JNN 07 Sep 2011 Tel Aviv : Amid widespread public anger across Israel at Tel Aviv’s policies, hundreds of Israeli medical staffers have reportedly walked out of hospitals to protest at poor working conditions and low wages.

“We want to make a decent living as doctors in Israel,” said Dr. Shuli Swetitzki, a resident at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, who had joined the strike staged by doctors and residents.

She said a lot of doctors sought to leave either Israel or their profession “because it is so hard to get by.”

The move came despite a reconciliatory agreement signed between the Finance Ministry and the Israel Medical Association with the outraged medical personnel saying they had not been consulted and that the deal failed to meet their major demands.

“But also we want the health system to function. We have a great public health system and you have to invest money and funds and the government is just letting the health system collapse,” Swetitzki said.

Israelis have been protesting the high costs of living and social injustice over the recent months. The public resentment came to a head on Saturday, when around one million Israelis held protest rallies in at least 50 cities.

The prime target of the demonstrations is Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who is blamed by the public for his economic management and expansion of illegal Jewish settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories