Israeli ex-president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres died on Wednesday, his personal doctor told AFP, some two weeks after suffering a major stroke.
The 93-year-old died at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT), Rafi Walden, who is also Peres’s son-in-law, told AFP.
Mr Peres suffered a stroke two weeks ago. His condition had improved before a sudden deterioration on Tuesday.
His son Chemi led tributes to “one of the founding fathers of the state of Israel” who “worked tirelessly” for it.
Mr Peres was one of the last of a generation of Israeli politicians present at the new nation’s birth in 1948.
He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1994 for his role negotiating peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier.
He once said the Palestinians were Israel’s “closest neighbours” and might become its “closest friends”.
Peres had been in hospital near Tel Aviv since September 13, when he was admitted feeling unwell and suffered the stroke with internal bleeding.
Israel has been on edge over the health of its last remaining founding father, who had been under sedation and respiratory support in intensive care.
Peres held nearly every major office in the country, serving twice as prime minister and also as president, a mostly ceremonial role, from 2007 to 2014.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his “deep personal grief on the passing of the beloved of the nation”.
US President Barack Obama called Mr Peres his “dear friend” in a statement, and said: “He was guided by a vision of the human dignity and progress that he knew people of goodwill could advance together.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called Mr Peres “a true giant among men” and “the greatest living example of an unshakable belief in the pursuit of peace against all odds”.
He added: “Tragically, thus far, we have not succeeded. But from Shimon Peres we learned that we must never let go of that audacious commitment to peace, even when all around us are ready to do so.”