Israel’s Shimon Peres hospitalized after stroke

Peres, 93, also a former Israeli Prime Minister and a Nobel laureate, is in stable condition, receiving treatment and “is fully conscious”, the office said. He will undergo several more evaluations in the coming hours, the doctor said.

Peres’s son Chemi told journalists “myself and my family members are going through hard times, difficult hours”.

“My father is very special”. He has held nearly every senior political position in Israel over his 70-year career. His latest CT showed his condition worsening, journalists were told late Tuesday.

In the video, in which Peres encourages the public to buy locally made products, he appears somewhat tired but is otherwise alert and coherent.

Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israel’s late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for a 1993 interim peace deal that they and their successors failed to turn into a durable treaty. Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until 2007, when he became President.

In January, he underwent successful minor surgery at the same hospital after suffering a small heart attack.

One of the most influential leaders in Israel’s 67-year history, Peres stepped down as president in 2014 after completing a seven-year term.

He also became a fixture at global conferences such as the World Economic Forum in Davos. He remains active through his nongovernmental Peres Center for Peace, which promotes coexistence between Arabs and Jews.

In a Facebook post on his official page Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished Peres “a speedy recovery”. Netanyahu conveyed the prayers of the entire nation for a quick recovery, according to the statement.