Doctors’ Union Strike Triggers Health-Care Work Stoppages Across Palestinian Government Centers

The Palestinian government faces a labor union crisis as protests widen across vital state sectors, with civil servants saying wage cuts and payments not exceeding 2,000 shekels leave them unable to cover minimum family needs.

“The mobilization in the United Kingdom continues to grow”

L'Express

In response, the Doctors' Union announced large-scale protest measures that triggered work stoppages in health-care centers and limited public hospital services to emergencies and life-saving operations.

L'Express

The Doctors' Union president, Salah al-Haashlamoon, said in radio interviews: "The government will see things it did not expect from doctors."

Sada News Agency also links the crisis to an ongoing rise in prices and a recession affecting markets, with forecasts that the next salary could be paid just before Eid al-Adha.

The article says private hospitals warn of collapse due to accumulated financial debts owed by the government for years, while the Health Professions Union announced a partial strike before the doctors’ actions.

As the war in Gaza continues and its repercussions spread to the West Bank, Hebrew-language media described unprecedented pressures on hospitals, clinics, and drug suppliers, with the health system’s ability to provide medicines and basic services declining.

Haaretz, in a report by journalist Amira Hass, said the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s debts to suppliers and private hospitals have piled up to about 2.6 billion shekels, approaching the ministry's total operating budget for 2025.

Mondoweiss

The same report said the ministry's warehouses and pharmacies now contain about 260 drug items out of the 1,260 items it previously supplied regularly, while cancer, kidney, and life-saving treatments are increasingly scarce.

القدس العربي reported that the accumulated debt of the Palestinian Ministry of Health amounts to about 2.6 billion shekels and is approaching its 2025 operating budget of 2.89 billion shekels, while government pharmacies suffer from a severe shortage of most medicines.

Health sector workers described the situation as "on the verge of collapse," and the Palestinian Ministry of Health warned ahead of Eid al-Adha that its ability to continue providing essential health services has become threatened.

In Jerusalem, Christian schools kept their doors closed for the 10,000 students because Israeli authorities did not renew permits for their 171 teachers from the occupied Palestinian territories, with the start of the second semester planned for January 10.

“January’s return to class did not take place for the 10,000 students in Jerusalem’s Christian schools”

Terre Sainte Magazine

Brother Daoud Kassabry said: "Problems began this summer," describing how Israeli authorities revoked permits of teachers from July 20 to August 20 on the grounds that there was no school, even as summer camps and maintenance continued.

Terre Sainte Magazine reported that after August 20, permits were renewed for only six months and ended on December 30, and that some permits did not include Saturday, which is nonetheless a school day.

In the West Bank, Mondoweiss described public doctors on strike for six months demanding full salaries for full working hours, while Israel has been indefinitely withholding Palestinian customs money since October 2023.

The article quotes the doctors’ union head telling Raya FM that the union was “not engaging in any communication with the government,” and that “medical service to patients cannot be reduced,” as the health system faces cascading service cuts and closures.