Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained in a critical but stable condition today as doctors pressed ahead with efforts to bring him out of an induced coma after a stroke.
Israelis keeping vigil for the 77-year-old leader had taken heart yesterday at news that Mr Sharon had begun breathing on his own and moved an arm and leg slightly.
A Ultra Orthodox Jews walks in front of a sign supporting Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon outside Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital.
But six days after his suffered his stroke, doctors still did not know how severely his faculties had been impaired.
Mr Sharon's two sons played Mozart symphonies at his bedside in an effort to elicit a response, the Maarivdaily newspaper reported.
His favourite food, the sliced meat dish shawarma, was also brought into his room in the hope the smell might stimulate further sensory revival.
YNETnews cited medical sources saying doctors provoked slight movement on his left side in response to pain stimulus today and said his breathing had improved.
His medical team carried on gradually weaning him off anaesthesia, a process expected to take days. "We cannot say he is out of danger," chief surgeon Felix Umansky said yesterday.
It is extremely unlikely that Mr Sharon will be able to resume work even if he makes a good recovery, creating deep uncertainty over the future of Middle East diplomacy.
Mr Sharon last year controversially decided to close Jewish settlements and withdraw troops out from the Gaza strip after 38 years of occupation.
Despite fears of a political vacuum, the United States has discreetly resumed its efforts for progress between Israel and the Palestinians.
US officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spoken to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed the Middle East with other international powerbrokers.
US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch and deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams will today begin a trip to the region that they postponed after Mr Sharon took ill.