Ex-Israeli president hospitalized after stroke

Former Israeli President Shimon Peres, 93, has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke Tuesday evening.

“The 9th president of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, has been admitted to the Sheba Medical Center (Tel Hashomer) after suffering a stroke,” his office said, according to The Times of Israel.

{mosads}“His condition is stable and he is fully conscious,” it added. “He is currently receiving medical treatment.”

The Times of Israel and Haaretz both described Peres as sedated and on a respirator in serious condition Tuesday night.

Peres, who served twice as Israel’s prime minister, is now retired after a 55-year career in politics.

Peres earlier this month underwent surgery to receive an artificial pacemaker following a series of minor health complications this summer, according to the Times of Israel. Peres was diagnosed in July with atrial fibrillation, or an abnormal heart rhythm.

Peres, who turned 93 last month, also suffered a mild attack in January before receiving a cardiac angioplasty to clear a blocked artery. He had been previously hospitalized twice after experiencing chest pains, the Times of Israel reported.

Rafi Valdan, Peres’s private physician, on late Tuesday said the quick sequence of medical events is typical of someone facing Peres’s health concerns.

“There was some doubt about whether he needed to be taken to the hospital,” he told Haaretz. “We decided not to take any risks.”

The Times of Israel described Peres as the last surviving member of Israel’s founding fathers and a veteran of the Knesset, its national legislature.

Peres is often celebrated as one of the architects behind the Oslo Accords, an interim peace deal between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization brokered in 1993.

Peres, who served as Israel’s defense minister in the late 1950s and 1960s, also founded its nuclear reactor at Dimona, according to Haaretz.