The Israel Defense Forces reported early in the morning of May 6 that a rocket had been fired from Gaza into Israel and landed in an open area. No injuries were indicated. In response, IDF tanks shelled three Hamas positions in the northern Gaza Strip. The rocket fire came after 40 days of relative calm on the Gaza-Israel border, with both sides preoccupied with battling the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The virus has also opened a window of opportunity for advancing a prisoner-exchange deal. On April 2, Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar indicated that his group is ready to make some concessions in exchange for what he called a "humanitarian gesture" by Israel of releasing elderly, young and female prisoners. Palestinian officials expressed concerns for the health of Hamas prisoners held in Israeli jails during the pandemic, and they clarified that Hamas needs Israel’s medical assistance in combatting the virus and preventing a large outbreak in Gaza. The "concessions" Sinwar was referring to relate to two Israeli nationals and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, all held by Hamas. Avraham Avera Mengistu crossed into Gaza in 2014 and Hisham al-Sayyad crossed in 2015. Both men apparently suffer from mental health issues. IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin were killed in the 2014 Protective Edge operation in Gaza. Israel has been demanding the release of its citizens and bodies of soldiers for several years, but no deal has been reached so far.

Still, ever since Sinwar’s April 2 statement, indirect contacts have been taking place, and there are increasing signs in the press that talks are indeed advancing. Israeli news outlets reported last week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had convened the ministerial committee responsible for returning Israeli captives on April 21 to discuss such efforts, and that after that meeting, Israel’s coordinator for captives and missing persons, Yaron Blum, met with the families of the missing soldiers. German weekly Die Zeit reported recently that a senior Swiss foreign affairs official, two senior German intelligence officials and an Egyptian general are all involved in talks.

On May 5, Hamas again denied that any progress has been made on a deal with Israel, but said that Egypt and Russia were involved in mediation efforts. Hamas-affiliated websites quoted an unnamed Palestinian source as saying, “There is no qualitative progress in the negotiations conducted with the occupation through mediators.”