Ariel Sharon – a life in pictures

Ariel Sharon Photograph: Heidi Levine/AP

1941: Ariel Scheinerman – who would later change his family name to Sharon – at the age of 13 Photograph: Getty Images

1948: Ariel Sharon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

1966: Israeli army training division chief Photograph: Pridan Moshe/AFP/Getty Images

1967: Major General Ariel Sharon walks with Major General Yeshayahu Gavish in the Negev desert in Israel Photograph: Reuters

1971: Sharon speaks with the former prime minister David Ben-Gurion during a tour of Israeli army posts along the Israeli-Egyptian border Photograph: Reuters

1973: Sharon, with a head wound, with Moshe Dayan, left, on the western side of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur war Photograph: AP

1977: Sharon attends the proclamation ceremony of the Shlomzion party with his son Gilad, second left, wife Lily, third left, and son Omri, fourth left Photograph: Dudu Grunshpan/AP

1982: Now Israeli defence minister, Sharon rides in an armoured personnel carrier on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, during the Israeli occupation Photograph: AP

1985: Sharon, as minister of industry and trade, sits in a session of Israel's parliament in Jerusalem Photograph: Nati Harnik/Reuters

1986: Sharon with his wife, Lily, during a Herut party convention in Tel Aviv Photograph: Reuters

1990: Sharon speaks with demonstrators angry about a shortage of housing for Israelis and new immigrants Photograph: Ricki Rosen/Corbis

1998: Sharon, now foreign minister in the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, sleeps briefly in the Knesset in Jerusalem Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA

2001: Sharon, now prime minister, on his Shikmim farm Photograph: Sarah Lee

2001: Sharon prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the day after his landslide election victory Photograph: Ricki Rosen/Corbis

2002: Sharon visits the Tel Fares observation point overlooking the Palestinian town of Nablus on the northern West Bank. The Israeli army was operating in the area in response to the killing of five Israelis in a kibbutz earlier that week Photograph: Avi Ohayon/Getty Images

2003: Mahmoud Abbas, George Bush, Ariel Sharon and Jordan's King Abdullah after their summit in Aqaba in Jordan Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AP

2004: President Bush walks with Sharon to make a joint statement to reporters at the White House in Washington. Bush endorsed Sharon's plan to pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank as 'historic and courageous actions' Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

2004: Sharon listens to his son Omri during a Knesset session in Jerusalem Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

2005: Sharon at the Nitzanim construction site in Israel, where he met contractors building temporary housing for settlers due to be evacuated from the Gaza Strip under his disengagement plan Photograph: David Silverman/Getty Images

2006: The empty chair and gavel of Sharon during a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Photograph: Kevin Frayer/AP