Ariel Sharon in extremely critical condition

Former Isreali leader Ariel Sharon is at risk of dying after his condition deteriorated further and is now "close to death", the Sheba Medical Center said.

The hospital treating Sharon said his condition worsened over the "past hours."

"His condition is described as extremely critical and his family is at his side all the time," said a statement from the hospital near Tel Aviv.

Mr Sharon, 85, has been comatose since suffering a stroke eight years ago. Last week he suffered a downturn in his health when he suffered from a malfunction of several organs including the kidneys.

Sharon's family is at his bedside.

He suffered a mild stroke in 2005 but after a second major stroke in 2006, he went into a coma and has been in a persistent vegetative state ever since.

First elected prime minister in 2001, he led a tough crackdown against a Palestinian uprising, a bout of violence in which more than 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis were killed.  But in a dramatic about-face, Mr Sharon led Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, uprooting all soldiers and settlers from the seaside strip after a 38-year military occupation.

Having fought in all of Israel's wars since the state's founding in 1948, Sharon is admired by many Israelis as a great military leader, but is reviled by Palestinians.

In both the 1967 and 1973 wars, Sharon led divisions that played a key role in Israeli successes.

While serving as defence minister in 1982, he masterminded Israel's invasion of Lebanon in the wake of shelling of Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organisation which was based there.

During the invasion, Lebanese Christian militiamen allied to Israel massacred hundreds of Palestinians in two Beirut refugee camps under Israeli control.

The following year an Israeli commission of inquiry ruled that he had carried personal responsibility for allowing the massacres to take place.

He was nevertheless elected prime minister 18 years later, pledging to achieve "security and true peace", and served until his second stroke.