Shimon Peres, the former Israeli prime minister, president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has died early Wednesday, according to media reports in Israel. The Israeli statesman was 93. He  suffered a major stroke two weeks ago and died in hospital in Tel Aviv.

The US president, Barack Obama, led the tributes as leaders past and present mourned the passing of Mr Peres.

Mr Obama said in a White House statement, that, "There are few people who we share this world with who change the course of human history, not just through their role in human events, but because they expand our moral imagination and force us to expect more of ourselves. My friend Shimon was one of those people."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement of mourning, that, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara express deep personal sorrow over the passing of the nation's beloved former president, Shimon Peres."

Peres filled nearly every position in Israeli public life in an unprecedented seven-decade political career. He was credited with leading the country through some of its most defining moments, from creating its nuclear arsenal in the 1950s, to disentangling its troops from Lebanon and rescuing its economy from triple-digit inflation in the 1980s, to guiding a sceptical nation into peace talks with the Palestinians in the 1990s.

Apart from his political contribution, he also created his non-governmental Peres Centre for Peace that raised funds for cooperation and development projects involving Israel, the Palestinians and Arab nations. He returned to it at age 91 when he completed his term as President.

Shimon Peres was born on August 2, 1923, in Vishneva, then part of Poland. He moved to pre-state Palestine in 1934 with his immediate family. Rising quickly through Labour Party ranks, he became a top aide to Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister and a man Peres once called “the greatest Jew of our time.”

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Nandini