The Labor Court on Monday afternoon ordered the Histadrut labor union to stop its general strike before 2:30 p.m., even though the union asked to continue striking until 6:00 p.m.
That said, the judges refrained from issuing injunctions against strikers.
The judges ruled that the strike was politically motivated. "It is clear that we are dealing with a political strike. In the strike declaration, we did not find any economic claim. The Histadrut's arguments before us regarding an economic aspect were not compelling since they did not explain the connection between the killing of hostages by evil men and the financial aspect of the economy."
Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David conceded: "We live in a state of laws, and we respect the court's decision, therefore, I instruct everyone to return to work at 2:30. It is important to note that the solidarity strike was an important move and I stand behind it."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich commented on the ruling: "The court accepted our stance and ruled that the Histadrut's strike is political and illegal. The workers of Israel who showed up at work en-masse today proved that the days of the union's political servitude are over. You can not harm the Israeli economy and serve Sinwar and Hamas' interests."
Bar-David declared the strike for what he called "the delay in a deal to return the hostages for political considerations."
Despite the heads of the business sector joining the strike, a large percentage of the local authorities in the country and many companies announced that they would not take part in shutting down Israel's economy during wartime.
Banks, some governmental offices, hi-tech firms, and companies that are part of the forum of 200 of Israel's biggest businesses announced that they would take part in the strike. The large malls belonging to Azrieli, Sarona, and Melisron demanded shopkeepers close their stores from noon.
Although the Histadrut announced that there would be no departures from Ben Gurion Airport from 8:00 a.m., the Airports Authority clarified that the airport would remain open.
Hospitals in central Israel said they would operate in a weekend format and would only carry out urgent and oncological surgery. Other surgeries that were scheduled ahead of time were rescheduled. Outpatient clinics were also closed. The strike did not include community health, the hospitals in the north and south, which refused to take part, as well as emergency medicine, emergency rooms, oncology and dialysis centers, labor wards, and neonatal intensive care units.