Former president and Nobel Peace Prize victor Shimon Peres, the last of Israel’s founding fathers, was sedated after suffering a stroke and is breathing with the aid of a respirator.
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Zeev Feldman, president of the Israeli Neurosurgical Association and involved in Peres’ treatment, told AFP “the fact that he regained consciousness gives us some cautious optimism”.
Peres’ personal physician and son-in-law, Raphy Walden, said Peres was responsive when his sedation was lessened.
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres delivers a statement to the media as he is discharged from a hospital near Tel Aviv, January 19, 2016.
Shimon Peres, then Israel’s president, speaks during a press conference in Sderot, Israel, July 6, 2014.
Peres was rushed to the hospital Tuesday after suffering a stroke.
“Mr. Peres passed the night without any other incident”, Yitzhak Kreiss, director of the Sheba Medical Centre at Tel HaShomer in Ramat Gan, told reporters outside the hospital near Tel Aviv.
Israeli TV stations say Peres is suffering bleeding in the brain and describe the stroke as serious.
The veteran politician was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his contributions in reaching an interim peace agreement with the Palestinians, along with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
While there, he had a stroke in the right side of the brain, Dr Valden said.
“I think that I speak for the entire Israeli people, as well as for many people outside Israel, who feel a certain relief this evening”, the prime minister said.
Former President Shimon Peres suffered a stroke and was hurried to Sheba Hospital.
When doctors briefly revived him from a medically induced coma, Valdan said, Peres was responsive, squeezing his hand and speaking a few words.
A veteran politician, Mr Peres has held nearly every major political office since Israel was founded in 1948, and was the architect of Israel’s secret nuclear programme.
Peres, 93, had returned to the hospital for a checkup after having received a cardiac pacemaker the week before.
“Shimon, we love you and the entire nation wishes you get well”, Mr Netanyahu said.
Over a seven-decade career, Peres held virtually every senior political office in Israel, including three terms as prime minister and stints as foreign and finance minister.
These attacks caused him to lose national elections in 1996 to the hawkish Oslo opponent Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in his fourth term as prime minister today.
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“We call on all of Israel to join us in hoping and praying for his recovery”, Walden said.
