Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is to be moved from his Tel Aviv hospital bed to his home in the Negev.

According to Israel’s Ynet newspaper, following a request from his sons an ambulance will take Mr Sharon to Sycamore Ranch, where his wife Lily was buried after her death in 2000.

The intention is for him to go there permanently but he will initially be there for only a few days while medical procedures are checked.

Dr Shlomo Noi, from Tal Hashomer hospital, said: "There has been no improvement reported in his condition.

"The move is the result of modern medical thinking that prefers to see long-term patients treated in the community rather than in hospitals."

Mr Sharon, now 82, has been in a coma for nearly five years. A fortnight after he suffered a stroke in January 2006, the terrorist group Hamas won power in the Palestinian legislative election.