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Doctors in Israeli public hospitals are on strike today despite last-minute negotiation attempts to settle the dispute.

The strike, which began at 7am Israel time, has resulted in cancelled appointments and a suspension of all non-essential surgery. Late-night talks between the Finance Ministry and the Israel Medical Association reportedly made progress, but not enough to cancel the strike.

The strike seems to have been inspired originally by a plan to ban hospital doctors from taking on private medical work on the side; this private work is often more profitable than government work. Though this plan has now been dropped, a widening of the strikers’ demands to encompass broader budgetary issues have led to it going ahead.

The current list of demands includes an increase in health budgets for hospitals, the recruitment of additional hospital doctors, and more budgetary freedom for administrators.

Yediot Ahronot quotes Israel Medical Association Chairman Leonid Eidelman explaining: “‎The struggle isn’‎t about income but rather the development of the healthcare system, hiring doctors… Doctors can’‎t provide the care as they would like to, the emergency rooms and departments are overloaded and patients who need to undergo surgery have to wait for months on end.”

However, a Health Ministry official told Yediot Ahronot: “‎‎It looks like they’‎ve decided to strike just to strike. Two weeks ago they claimed it was about the department directors, and now they’‎re claiming that it’‎s about shorting the appointment wait time and adding personnel.”

Meanwhile, The Union of Local Authorities has also called a strike which would affect schools and local government in response to planned budget cutbacks.

The local authorities object to plans to redistribute wealth from wealthier municipalities and schools to poorer areas. According to Haaretz, they also object to the Government’s plans to ban National Lottery slot machines. The National Lottery is a major source of revenue, providing NIS 600m (£120m) a year to build infrastructure like classrooms and sports centres.

The Israeli Government faces a tough budget round for its planned two-year budget for 2017-18. Originally, spending cuts were planned to tackle Israel’s increasing deficit without increasing taxes. However, most sectors are resisting budget cuts and seeking increases instead. The 2017-18 budget is expected to run a 2.9% deficit, which will substantially increase in 2019-20.