Ariel Sharon Moved to Home Ranch from Long-Term Care Facility

Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will be moved from the Sheba long-term medical center facility to his home ranch near the Gaza strip. Sharon suffered a massive stroke in January 2006 and has been in a coma for almost five years.

Ariel Sharon

Sharon is believed to be breathing on his own with occasional oxygen use. The actual date of the move is unknown for security purposes.

Mr. Sharon served as Israel's eleventh prime minister from March 2001 officially through April 2006. He is a retired general from the Israeli Army. He is 82 years old. He was succeeded by Ehud Olmert.

An elevator was installed in the home at Sharon's Sycamore Ranch, to enable moving him from the ground floor to his bedroom on the second floor.

Ariel Sharon was married twice, and twice widowed. His first wife Margalit was killed in a head-on auto accident in 1962. They had one son. He married Lily, who was Margalit's sister, in 1963. They had two sons. Lily died of lung cancer at age 63 in 1999. She is buried on the family farm.