Israel's Peres in intensive care after 'major stroke'

Doctors have placed Israel's former prime minister Shimon Peres in an induced coma after he suffered a stroke on Tuesday.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

13 September, 2016

Former PM Shimon Peres suffered a mild heart attack earlier this year [Getty]

Former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres has been hospitalised after "having a brain episode," the office of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Tuesday.

The 93-year-old, who also served as Israel's ninth president, was put in an induced coma while doctors treat him and prepare for a CT scan.

His office issued a statement saying that doctors decided to sedate the veteran Israeli politician to "ease the continuation" of treatment.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office added that Peres is at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, which lies just outside of Tel Aviv.

This latest medical episode comes eight months after Peres was rushed to hospital following a minor heart attack. At that time the former prime minister underwent emergency surgery and returned to hospital after ten days due to an irregular heartbeat.

Born in Poland in 1923, Peres is one of Israel's longest serving politicians. In 1947 he joined the Haganah – the Israeli Defence Force's predecessor, and as a politician was central to Israel's invasion of the Egyptian Sinai during the Suez Crisis in 1956.

At his time of retirement as president in 2014, Peres was the world's oldest head of state.