His spokeswoman Ayelet Frisch said Tuesday was no exception, with Peres waking early to read the daily newspapers before delivering an hour-long lecture and then uploading a video to his Facebook account in which he encouraged the public to buy locally made products. They briefly revived him from that state overnight and Valdan said Peres was responsive, squeezing his hand and speaking some words.
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Israeli media reported that Peres was “fighting for his life”, but Rafi Walden, Peres’ son-in-law and personal physician, said there appeared to be no imminent threat to his life anymore.
“His condition is critical but stable”, Raphy Walden told journalists on a conference call.
Nationwide concern mounted over the condition of 93-year-old Peres, widely respected as an elder statesman both in Israel and overseas, after his stroke on Tuesday. He has since been sedated and placed on a respirator.
He was taken to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer after informing his doctor that he was feeling weak.
“He is in intensive care and we are monitoring him constantly”.
The head of the Israeli hospital treating former President Shimon Peres says a stroke caused “lots of bleeding”. “I believe and hope for the good”.
He described Peres as “in a better condition than last night”.
“I know that my father did not care about anything as much as he cares about people, as much as he cares about Israel, the Jewish people and the people in Israel”.
He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israel’s former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for a 1993 interim peace deal, although that pact never hardened into a lasting treaty.
He suffered a heart attack in January this year.
“Shimon, we love you and the entire nation is wishing for your recovery”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
President Reuven Rivlin said in a statement that he was “following with concern the updates from the hospital and pray together with the entire people for my friend Shimon’s recovery”.
Over a seven-decade career, he’s held virtually every senior political office, including three stints as prime minister and extended terms as foreign, defense and finance minister.
When leaving hospital after his heart treatment in January, then 92-year-old Peres told reporters he was “so happy to return to work, that was the whole goal of this operation”.
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Despite his age, Peres has maintained an active public schedule, mostly through his non-governmental Peres Centre for Peace, which promotes closer ties between Israel and the Palestinians.
