Amos Oz, the leading Israeli author and a prominent advocate for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, has died of cancer at the age of 79.
His most acclaimed works included the best-selling 2002 autobiographical novel A Tale of Love and Darkness.
It was adapted for the big screen in 2015, directed by Natalie Portman.
Oz's support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict led some to brand him a traitor, which he said he wore "as a badge of honour".
The news of his death was announced by his daughter, historian Fania Oz-Salzberger.
"My beloved father passed away from cancer, just now, after a rapid deterioration, when he was sleeping at peace, surrounded by the people who love him," she wrote on Twitter.
"Please respect our privacy. I will not be able to comment. Thank you to those who loved him."
Oz was one of Israel's most widely-read and best-known writers, winning awards including the Israel Prize, the German Heinrich Heine prize, the French Legion d'Honeur and a membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
His books have been translated into 45 languages and he was often tipped as a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
He was born Amos Klausner in Jerusalem in 1939, and the city would provide a canvas for many of his works. His breakthrough novel, 1968's My Michael, was written while he worked in a kibbutz and describes the love and marriage of a young woman against the background of 1950s Jerusalem.
BBC
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