Former Israeli President Shimon Peres died in the early hours of September 28 following a stroke two weeks ago. Peres' family was seen arriving at the hospital in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night after a reported deterioration in his condition.

The 93-year-old statesman had been admitted to Intensive Care after suffering a stroke on September 13, which had reportedly resulted in a lot of cerebral bleeding. His condition remained stable for days, even though he was induced into a coma and put on a respirator. Peres reportedly made some progress, even regaining consciousness, before a sudden deterioration in his condition earlier in the day.

Peres' son Chemi had indicated a foreseeable decline in health, saying on the day of the stroke that "we are going to have to take difficult decisions apparently later, but not yet."

Peres had already undergone extensive heart surgery earlier in the year, receiving a pacemaker after having what was described as a "mild cardiac event at the time.

Details of funeral arrangements were not initially made available.

Israel's last surviving founding father

Peres served as prime minister for eight months after the assassination of Premier Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and also for a brief term between 1984 and 1986, under a rotation agreement with Yitzhak Shamir. He later was elected Israel's ninth president, serving between 2007 and 2014.

Together with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Pereswas awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the 1993 interim Oslo peace accords.

(DW)