AKIPRESS.COM - Former Israeli President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres has been hospitalized after suffering a major stroke on Tuesday, CNN reports.

Peres, 93, suffered a stroke with "a component of bleeding," Dr. Yitzhak Kreiss said Tuesday in a news conference outside Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, where Peres is being treated.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is sedated and on a respirator, Kreiss said. He will undergo several more evaluations in the coming hours.

Peres' family remained hopeful amid the news.

"My father is a special man. I remain optimistic although these are not simple hours," Peres' son, Chemi, said.

"I know that my father did not care about anything as much as he cares about people, as much as he cares about Israel, the Jewish people and the people in Israel. And I will take this opportunity on his behalf to send all of you his love."

Peres retired from public office in 2014 after his seven-year term as president ended. By then, he had been in Israeli politics for more than half a century, holding virtually every position in Israel's Cabinet, from minister of defense to prime minister, a position he held twice.