Former Israeli president and elder statesman Shimon Peres, 93, has died in Tel Aviv, prompting US President Barack Obama to mourn: “A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever”.

Peres, an indefatigable campaigner for Middle East peace who jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, was in hospital after a stroke two weeks ago and died in Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv.

“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. My friend Shimon was one of those people,” Obama said in a statement.

Media reports said Obama was planning to attend Peres’s funeral, which Israeli media said was expected to be held on Friday, although details of the ceremony were not made public.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement expressing “deep personal grief at the passing of the beloved of the nation”.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull release a statement praising Peres: “His life was as eventful as it was long: his passion for the state of Israel, which he helped found, as strong as his commitment to peace.”

Australia mourns the passing of Shimon Peres, his passion for the State of Israel as strong as his commitment to peace.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) September 28, 2016

“A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever.” —@POTUS on the passing of Shimon Peres: https://t.co/kfiWabFROR pic.twitter.com/hC021MJlBD

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) September 28, 2016

Shimon Peres was, above all, a man of peace. My deepest condolences to his loved ones and to the people of Israel on his passing.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 28, 2016

In former President Shimon Peres, we lost a key world leader & a friend of India. Pained by his demise. Our condolences to people of Israel.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 28, 2016

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who still works on Middle East issues, described Peres as “someone I loved deeply” and a mentor. “His intellect, his way with words that was eloquent beyond description, his command of the world and how it was changing were extraordinary.”

An official announcement of Peres’s death was made at the hospital by his son Chemi and son-in-law Rafi Walden, who said he died without suffering and that he had donated his corneas for transplant.

“His life ended abruptly when he was still working on his great passion, strengthening the country and striving for peace. His legacy will remain with us all,” Walden, who was also Peres’s personal physician, said.

Peres was part of almost every major development in Israel since the country’s founding in 1948. In a career spanning nearly 70 years, he served in a dozen cabinets and was twice a Labour prime minister.

He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with the late former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for reaching an interim peace deal in 1993 which never turned into a lasting treaty.

Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli ultra-nationalist who opposed the interim accords, and it was Peres who took over as prime minister after Rabin’s death.

Peres is widely seen as having gained nuclear capabilities for Israel by procuring the secret Dimona reactor from France while defence ministry director-general in the 1950s.

And as defence minister oversaw the 1976 Israeli rescue of hijacked Israelis at Entebbe airport in Uganda.

Peres held the largely ceremonial post of president from 2007-2014 and used the pulpit to continue to advocate peace.