Israel’s former President Shimon Peres remains in a serious condition, despite a slight improvement over the last day, following a major stroke.

Shimon Peres, 93, is in intensive care at the Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv, having been taken ill on Tuesday and subsequently suffering a stroke.

Peres is breathing with the aid of a respirator, but showed greater signs of awareness and responsiveness.

Prof. Ze’ev Feldman, a member of the neurosurgical team treating Peres said that yesterday he “woke up, opened his eyes, and understood what we told him. He followed our instructions even better than the previous test”.

Peres’s personal physician and son-in-law Rafi Walden said this morning that “there is another real improvement” although Peres’ condition remains serious but stable.

Peres is considered to be one of Israel’s most distinguished statesmen. In addition to serving as President from 2007 until 2014, he was Prime Minister on two occasions and a member of twelve cabinets. As a parliamentarian, Peres enjoyed an unbroken spell in the Knesset from 1959 to 2007.

He was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize having played a major role as Foreign Minister alongside then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in forging the Oslo Peace Accords with the Palestinians in the early 1990s.

Peres is the last Israeli who was “there” — when Israel was established. He was a member of the founding generation that supported the state from its first day of existence, and he was one of those responsible for building its strength even while fighting the War of Independence.

Peres is in one way or another connected to practically every significant event in Israel, every important enterprise or project.