Coronavirus has reached the Gaza Strip, one of the world's most densely populated areas. A dozen cases of COVID-19 have been officially confirmed. The coastal strip on the Mediterranean Sea is home to about 2 million people spread across 365 square kilometers (140 square miles) — roughly 6,000 people per square kilometer. As a precaution, workers have disinfected the streets in several areas.

After returning from abroad, more than 1,860 people have been divided up and sent to 26 makeshift quarantine facilities. One of those centers is located at the Rafah border crossing, but some people were also sent to converted schools for 21 days. The border crossings to Egypt and Israel have largely been closed since mid-March; only those returning home are allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.

While some centers still have medical equipment, health care in the Gaza Strip is at a standstill. Only 63 ventilators and 78 intensive care beds are available for 2 million people. COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian issues, said it coordinated the delivery of over 1,500 testing swabs organized by the WHO. Calls to ease Israel's blockade are getting stronger.

The Health Ministry has declared a state of emergency. Palestinian artists Samah Saed (pictured) and Dorgam Krakeh are painting protective face masks in bright colors in a bid to encourage locals to wear them. If the measures by Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, fail to contain the virus, the consequences could be disastrous.

A total lockdown would be fatal for people here. Around 75% of population is refugees, and all are dependent on the support of workers from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), who still deliver food during the day. But in the evenings, residents must observe a curfew from 5 p.m. until early in the morning.

Public life has largely been restricted. However, social distancing and appropriate hygiene measures remain a challenge, especially in the narrow streets and shelters in the refugee camps. In order to educate Gaza's large young population, activists dress up as the virus and visit the refugee camps.

The Islamist group Hamas and Qatar maintain a close relationship, and the small emirate has promised to continue providing financial support for the people of Gaza. Last week, Qatar transferred $10 million (€9.25 million) to the Gaza Strip — exactly how remains unknown. Reportedly, every family in need will receive $100.

Medical facilities in Gaza will be able to treat the first 100 coronavirus cases, according to estimates from the local office of the World Health Organization. After that, the area would be reliant on external support. That is why activists and artists are trying to raise awareness about the importance of staying home.

A bakery in Khan Younis is doing its bit to educate people, baking cakes with masks to draw attention to the pandemic.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.

A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.

The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.

The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza Strip and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.

US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.

The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.

The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.

In 2007, US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.

In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a 10-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.

A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza in late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.

Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as "rigged" against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. "A two-state solution is the only possible one," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.

Despite the year's optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump's plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say "the measures ... undermine all peace efforts."

US President Donald Trump presented a peace plan that freezes Israeli settlement construction but retains Israeli control over most of the illegal settlements it has already built. The plan would double Palestinian-controlled territory but asks Palestinians to cross a red line and accept the previously constructed West Bank settlements as Israeli territory. Palestinians reject the plan.

Plans to evict four families and give their homes in East Jerusalem to Jewish settlers led to escalating violence in May 2021. Hamas fired over 2,000 rockets at Israel, and Israeli military airstrikes razed buildings in the Gaza Strip. The international community, including Germany's Foreign Ministry, called for an end to the violence and both sides to return to the negotiating table.