Shimon Peres, who served twice as Israel’s prime minister and once as president, has died at the age of 93.
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.
World figures are expected to attend his funeral in Jerusalem on Friday, including US President Barack Obama, Prince Charles and Pope Francis.
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”.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his “deep sorrow” over Mr Peres’ death.
“As a man of vision, his gaze was aimed to the future,” he said in a video statement.
“As a man of security, he fortified Israel’s strength in many ways, some of which even today are still unknown.
“As a man of peace, he worked until his final days toward reconciling with our neighbours for a better future for our children.”
Meanwhile 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.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement calling Peres’s death “a great loss to humanity and peace in the region”, according to the Reuters news agency.
But the militant Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, expressed happiness.
“Shimon Peres was the last remaining Israeli officials who founded the occupation,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the Associated Press. “His death is the end of a phase in the history of this occupation and the beginning of a new phase of weakness.”
Who was Shimon Peres?
Born in 1923 in Wisniew, Poland, now Vishnyeva, Belarus.
First elected to the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in 1959, served in 12 governments, including once as president and twice as prime minister.
He was seen as a hawk in his early years, when he negotiated arms deals for the fledgling nation.
He was a member of the government that approved the building of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory; but played a key part in reaching the Oslo peace accords, the first deal between Israel and the Palestinians, which said they would “strive to live in peaceful coexistence.”
Caption:
Peres shared his Nobel Peace Prize with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was later assassinated, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
.BBC