Members of nurses' union arrive at meeting at Finance Ministry
Members of nurses' union arrive at meeting at Finance MinistryHadas Parush/Flash 90

The nurses' strike ended on Tuesday evening after agreements were reached between the representatives of the nurses' union and the Ministries of Health and Finance.

During the strike, which began at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, most of the hospitals in Israel operated in a Shabbat format, many surgeries were postponed and delays were recorded in hospital wards and emergency rooms.

The agreements between the parties concern both the issue of security arrangements in hospitals as well as the addition of new jobs in the health system.

"The breakthrough took place on all the issues that were discussed, including the heavy workloads in the hospital wards, the security of the health institutions and the implementation of the punishment and enforcement clauses," the nurses’ union said.

Deputy Health Minister MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) welcomed the end of the strike, saying, "We succeeded in bringing about a significant increase to the health system while strengthening the personal safety of the medical teams."

Moshe Bar-Siman-Tov, director-general of the Ministry of Health, added, "These are very important achievements for the nurses, but also for the entire system."