Nurses End Strike in Israel After 24 Hours of Chaos

Barely a day old, Israel’s nurses’ strike ended late Monday evening after Finance Ministry officials and union representatives reached an agreement. According to the pact, 2,000 new nurse positions will be added in hospitals across the country immediately. In addition, the government will subsidize nurses’ rent in remote towns, will enhance funding to health facilities in southern Israel and will not dock pay from nurses who are placed in quarantine following coronavirus diagnosis. Finance Ministry officials were extremely wary of the catastrophic consequences after the general strike began Monday morning, and instructed negotiators to speed things up. Elsewhere in Israel, the Knesset voted Tuesday morning to cancel several emergency decrees passed by the government in its battle to stem the coronavirus tide. Members of Israel’s parliament explained that the government’s decisions to shut down restaurants, gyms and beaches were not based on sufficient data and statistics, escalating the ongoing feud between the two branches of government.