Doctors hopeful after Peres shows slight improvement

Netanyahu: My prayers are even stronger today • Former president remains in induced coma

Former president Shimon Peres remained in a critical condition on Wednesday evening a day after suffering a massive stroke, but is showing signs of improvement.

“Twenty-four hours after Shimon Peres’s stroke, he is in serious condition, but we have the impression that there is a certain improvement in his neurological condition, and he is more alert,” Yitshak Kreiss, director of the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, said on Wednesday afternoon. “That is good.”

Peres is still sedated and on a respirator, Kreiss said. But he is “a bit more aware” and “we can see some improvement.”

Prof. Rafi Walden, the former prime minister’s son-in-law and personal physician, and deputy director of Sheba, said the 93-year-old “continues to react nicely” from time to time when sedation is reduced, including squeezing his hand when I ask him to. His alertness has improved significantly.”

The sedation is being continued to allow his brain to rest and recuperate, said Walden.

Neurologists warned that while this was good news, patients his age after such extensive bleeding in the brain are “fragile,” and their condition “can change at any moment.”

The hospital briefing was attended by many foreign journalists and dozens of photographers, reflecting the intense interest abroad, and of course among Israelis, in Peres’s condition.

On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Peres at the hospital and addressed reporters outside.

“I believe that I am speaking for all the people of Israel and many outside of Israel who feel a little easier tonight,” Netanyahu said. “Today is better than yesterday and with God’s help tomorrow will be better than today. My prayers are even stronger today now that I’ve seen signs of hope.”

Peres, former president and prime minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994,

together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. He has had minor health problems over the past year while maintaining a busy public schedule.

He held regular meetings on Tuesday and appeared in “perfect condition,” Walden said, before suffering headaches. He was taken to the hospital for an examination and then suffered what Walden described as a “massive stroke.”

Walden said he did not believe there was an imminent threat to Peres’s life, but called it a difficult time for the family.

“We are very close to him,” he said. “We are very moved and touched by his condition, but also very moved by the reaction of the Israeli public.”