Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli general and prime minister, died on Saturday aged 85.
Sharon died at Sheba Medical Center in the Tel Aviv suburb of Tel Hashomer, reports the CNN.
He was in a coma for eight years after he had a stroke at the height of his power.
Reuters first reported his death, quoting the Israeli Army radio. A relative of Sharon's family confirmed his death to the radio.
The Israeli statesman was a national war-hero to many Israelis for his leadership, both in uniform and as a civilian, during every Israeli war.
Many in the Arab world called Sharon "the Butcher of Beirut" after he oversaw Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon while serving as defense minister.
He was in his fifth year as prime minister when he suffered a massive stroke in January 2006, which left him comatose.
Ehud Olmert, who became interim prime minister after Sharon's stroke, assumed the role of prime minister after leading the Kadima Party to an electoral victory in March 2006.
The uncompromising defender
According to a BBC report, Ariel Sharon's reputation as an uncompromising and unapologetic defender of his country's interests dates back to his military career. He fought in its war for independence in 1948 and seemed to play a role in every national drama from that point forward until he slipped into a coma in 2006.
He helped set up Unit 101 - a commando detachment whose job was to conduct reprisal operations across the border in Arab territories to retaliate for attacks against Israel. Such was his reputation as a military commander that some accounts of his army career say he was nicknamed the Lion of God after a particularly daring tactical parachute operation against Egypt in 1967 in the Sinai desert.
Fifteen years later, it was another dark episode that brought Ariel Sharon international attention. He was minister of defense when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. The strategic goal was to bring stability to the country's northern border by crushing Yasser Arafat's PLO, which was then holed up in southern Lebanon and Beirut. However, the war was deeply controversial at home as well as in the wider world.
As a supporter of the settlers who moved on to the lands Israel captured in the war of 1967 in defiance of international opinion, he saw himself as a natural leader of the Israeli right.
Promise of peace and security
He became prime minister in 2001, promising to bring peace and security to his country. However, it was a turbulent period in Israeli politics and he eventually left the governing Likud party to found his own Kadima movement while still in office.
It was on his watch as prime minister that construction of a barrier began with the intention of preventing suicide attacks on Israel from the Palestinian territories. His supporters would argue that it worked. Its detractors would say it entrenched an already deep sense of separateness.
He did not shy away from bold political moves though. The man who had supported Israeli settlers ordered their removal from Gaza when he decided to withdraw from the Palestinian enclave beside the Mediterranean in 2005.
