Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir dies

The former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, has died at the age of 96, officials say.

In a statement announcing the death, current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to his "deep loyalty to Israel".

As leader of the right-wing Likud party, Mr Shamir was prime minister between 1983-1984, and in 1986-1992.

In office, he gained a reputation as an uncompromising opponent of Palestinian statehood.

"He was part of a marvelous generation which created the state of Israel and struggled for the Jewish people," Mr Netanyahu said in his statement.

Born in Poland in 1915, Yitzhak Shamir moved to what was then Palestine after his mother and sisters were killed in the Holocaust.

After the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, he joined its Mossad intelligence service before launching a political career in the 1970s.