Israeli ex-president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres died on Wednesday some two weeks after suffering a major stroke, his doctor said.

The 93-year-old died in his sleep at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT), Rafi Walden, who is also Peres´s son-in-law, told AFP.

He had been surrounded by family members, a source close to Peres told AFP. A press conference was planned for later in the morning.

US President Barack Obama immediately hailed Peres as a friend who "never gave up on the possibility of peace."

"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," Obama said in a statement.

"My friend Shimon was one of those people."

Former US president Bill Clinton, who helped usher in the Oslo peace accords of the 1990s, said "the Middle East has lost a fervent advocate for peace and reconciliation."

"I´ll never forget how happy he was 23 years ago when he signed the Oslo accords on the White House lawn, heralding a more hopeful era in Israeli-Palestinian relations," Clinton said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his "profound sadness" and opposition leader Isaac Herzog, the head of Labour, Peres´s longtime party, said he will be "forever remembered as an icon of Israel´s history."

Peres held nearly every major office in the country, serving twice as prime minister and also as president, a mostly ceremonial role, from 2007 to 2014.

He won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for his role in negotiating the Oslo Accords, which envisioned an independent Palestinian state.