RAMALLAH, West Bank — The outbreak of COVID-19 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the effort to contain it has presented an opportunity for Fatah and Hamas to unite in at least one respect. Despite the critical nature of the current situation, the years of mutual animosity and recrimination between the factions is making cooperation difficult. As of April 20, the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center recorded 439 COVID-19 cases in Gaza and the West Bank, 3 deaths, and 71 recoveries.

After US President Donald Trump unveiled the details of his plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace on Jan. 28, the two organizations opened new channels of communication, finding themselves in agreement in their opposition to the plan. Of note, Hamas took part in a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, at the request of President Mahmoud Abbas, to look into mechanisms to respond to the plan. Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh called on Abbas to put all differences aside under the circumstances, stressing that Hamas stood behind the “president’s firm positions.” Days later, however, a Hamas-PLO meeting scheduled for Feb. 3 in Gaza failed to materialize, with each side blaming the other.

Despite a 20-minute “warm” phone call on April 4 between Haniyeh and Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, tensions remain. PA spokesman Ibrahim Melhem, who revealed the conversation at an April 5 press conference, said that Haniyeh had stressed the need for the Ramallah government to follow up on the COVID-19 situation in Gaza, to which Shtayyeh reportedly responded, “The government is present in all its ministries, namely the Health Ministry to secure all medical supplies for our people in the homeland and diaspora.” Haniyeh, in turn, “praised the distinguished government performance headed by Shtayyeh and the preventive measures to confront the virus and spare the people great risks” and called for serious action to instill national unity.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Melhem said, the Ramallah government had been operating in Gaza through projects funded by donor countries to provide aid to140,000 households, through the Ministry of Social Development. On April 1, the Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced the dispatch of 1,500 coronavirus test kits to Gaza. The Palestine-Turkish Friendship Hospital in Gaza City began operations in early April as part of the effort to to treat COVID-19 patients.