Initially, the office of the ninth president said Peres was “conscious and in stable condition, but suddenly, his condition took a turn for the worse”. “I am following reports from the hospital with concern and praying together with the entire nation for the recovery of my friend Shimon”, said Peres’ successor and current President Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin. In January, Peres was hospitalized twice after experiencing a mild heart attack and an irregular heartbeat, and had a pacemaker implanted last week.
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Peres served three brief terms as prime minister, but he also served in other senior posts across government.
But Palestinian suicide bombings that killed dozens of Israelis and an aggressive campaign by Likud battered Peres’s popularity and he lost the election to Netanyahu by less than 30,000 votes.
He was still sedated and breathing with a respirator, but doctors were seeking to reduce sedation to evaluate him and he was occasionally awake, Kreiss said.
He said the bleeding in the brain had been halted and that Peres’ condition is “serious but stable”.
The longest serving of all of Israel’s public servants, Peres completed his seven-year term of office as president of the State of Israel just two weeks shy of his 91st birthday.
At the end of last month, Peres suffered chest pains and his son-in-law Professor Rafi Valdan was urgently called to his home in Tel Aviv.
His spokeswoman Ayelet Frisch said Tuesday was no exception, waking early to read the daily newspaper before delivering an hour-long lecture and then uploaded a video to his Facebook account in which he encouraged the public to buy locally made products.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his role in negotiating the Oslo peace accords. In the video, Peres appears somewhat tired but is otherwise alert and coherent. He shared the prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated, and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The last of Israel’s founding fathers, Peres has held almost every major office in the country, including prime minister twice and president, a mostly ceremonial post, from 2007 to 2014. “The Prime Minister conveyed the prayers of the entire nation for a quick recovery”, said a statement released by his office.
Peres was also instrumental in enlarging the Israeli military industry and ushering Israel onto the nuclear power stage, while promoting security in the region.
The ex-president’s son told Army Radio that his father was improving.
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Valdan, who is married to Peres’ daughter, said he did not believe there was an imminent threat to Peres’ life, but called it a hard time for the family.
