Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died aged 85 after spending eight years in a coma following a stroke.
He was a giant of Israel's military and political scene, but courted controversy throughout his long career.
The head of the Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv said Mr Sharon had died on Saturday afternoon of heart failure.
President Shimon Peres said he had built Israel but a senior Palestinian said his path was war and aggression.
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Journalists have been camped out at this hospital in central
Israel since the start of the month when doctors indicated that the
health of the former prime minister had deteriorated.
His family - including his two sons, Gilad and Omri - has been here at his bedside and police tried to keep photographers away from them.
After regular news updates in which we were told the 85-year-old was "fighting like a lion", the hospital spokesman called an unexpected briefing at lunch-time on Shabbat - the Jewish Sabbath - when much of the country is closed down. He announced that Mr Sharon had "departed peacefully".
The former leader was cared for here for most of the past eight years - during which time he was considered to be in a state of minimal consciousness.
His body has now been removed from the hospital. A ministerial committee is deciding on plans for him to lie in state before he is buried at his ranch in the Negev.
At the hospital
His family - including his two sons, Gilad and Omri - has been here at his bedside and police tried to keep photographers away from them.
After regular news updates in which we were told the 85-year-old was "fighting like a lion", the hospital spokesman called an unexpected briefing at lunch-time on Shabbat - the Jewish Sabbath - when much of the country is closed down. He announced that Mr Sharon had "departed peacefully".
The former leader was cared for here for most of the past eight years - during which time he was considered to be in a state of minimal consciousness.
His body has now been removed from the hospital. A ministerial committee is deciding on plans for him to lie in state before he is buried at his ranch in the Negev.
Mr Peres, who joined a unity
government with Mr Sharon in 2001, said he was "an exceptional man and
an exceptional commander who moved his people and loved them and the
people loved him".
Palestinian political figure Mustafa Barghouti said while
no-one should gloat at his death, Mr Sharon had taken "a path of war and
aggression" and had left "no good memories with Palestinians".
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama spoke of a leader "who dedicated his life to the State of Israel".
The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen said he had shaped
the current state of the West Bank and Israel's relations with the
Palestinians more than any other Israeli politician in recent years.
Ariel Sharon fought in Israel's war of independence in 1948,
and from that point until he slipped into a coma in 2006 it seemed there
was hardly a moment of national drama in which he did not play a role,
our correspondent says.
He became PM in 2001 and in 2005 completed a unilateral
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, months before suffering a massive
stroke.
Gaza junction
His health had declined for the past week and a half, Sheba Medical Centre Director Professor Shlomo Noy told reporters.
Prof Shlomo Noy: "Today his heart weakened and he peacefully departed"
Dennis Ross, ex-US envoy to Mid-East: 'One of Israel's giants has passed'
"Over the past week he struggled with surprising strength and
determination against the deterioration in his condition. Today he
departed peacefully with his loving family at his side."
One of his two sons, Gilad Sharon, said outside the hospital:
"He has gone. He went when he decided to go." He later visited his
mother's grave.
He had been in a persistent vegetative state since a stroke
in 2006 and Professor Noy said he had suffered "ups and downs"
throughout that period.
Ariel Sharon died during the Jewish Sabbath and the BBC's
Yolande Knell said a ministerial committee would meet in the coming
hours to decide what steps to take.
It is thought Mr Sharon's body will lie in state at Israel's
parliament, the Knesset, on Sunday before a big state funeral is held on
Monday. He will finally be buried at his ranch in the Negev desert, our
correspondent says.
After the 1973 war, Ariel Sharon (seen here with Shimon Peres) became a government defence adviser
As defence minister, he supervised the invasion of Lebanon in 1982
As prime minister, Mr Sharon presided over some of the most
turbulent times in Israeli-Palestinian history, a Palestinian uprising
that erupted in 2000 and a subsequent tough Israeli military response.
To many Israelis, he was a heroic warrior, having led decisive campaigns in the 1967 and 1973 wars.
Known as Arik, Mr Sharon entered politics after the 1973 war
but he became defence minister in 1981 and took charge of the invasion
of Lebanon the following year, in an attempt to remove Palestine
Liberation Organisation (PLO) fighters who had carried out attacks
across Israel's northern border.
It led to a massacre of civilians carried out by Christian
Phalangist militia in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Ariel
Sharon was found personally responsible by an Israeli inquiry for failing to prevent the massacre.
He was forced to resign as defence minister but stayed in
government. It was not until 2001 that he came to power as prime
minister.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Israel had lost "one of
the most significant figures" in its history while French President
Francois Hollande said after a long military career Mr Sharon had "taken
the choice to turn to dialogue with the Palestinians".
Ariel Sharon's son Gilad visited his mother's grave, where his father is also expected to be buried
Ariel Sharon's death was celebrated in the Gaza Strip
Ex-US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, a former
secretary of state, said he "gave his life to Israel" and it was an
honour to "work with him, argue with him and watch him always trying to
find the right path for his beloved country".
Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to the US under
Ariel Sharon, said the late prime minister's decision to pull out of
Gaza in 2005 had changed the political landscape and he was prepared to
take creative steps towards a solution with the Palestinians.
But Hamas, Gaza's Islamist militant rulers since 2007,
condemned him as a tyrant and said his death marked the "disappearance
of a criminal whose hands were covered with Palestinian blood".
Sweets were handed out in Gaza as Palestinians celebrated the news.
SOURCE: BBC
