Peter Cammack, a fellow with the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argued that the march indicated a new trend in Palestinian society and Hamas, with a shift away from violence towards non-violent forms of protest.

[48][49] In late February 2019, a United Nations Human Rights Council's independent commission found that of the 489 cases of Palestinian deaths or injuries analyzed, only two were possibly justified as responses to danger by Israeli security forces.

Despite the withdrawal, Israel still maintains direct external control over everyday life in Gaza, such as the territory's air and maritime space, most of its land crossings, electricity and water supply and other utilities.

According to Israeli journalist Amos Harel, Hamas, which failed to lift the blockade for years, sought to use the demonstrations as a means to get out its strategic crisis, as it found armed conflict with Israel to be ineffective.

[140] A large crowd (the IDF reported "several hundred"; The New York Times, "thousands") of people rushed toward the Karni border crossing, after a speech by Hamas leader Ismail Radwan.

[22] Shortly after noon, confrontations began between protesters, who threw stones, burned tires, and launched flammable kites, and Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas and live ammunition.

[22][150] Palestinians had prepared hundreds of firebomb kites, intending to fly them as swarms into Israel exploiting the heavy heat wave to ignite fires, however since the wind was blowing in the wrong direction to the west.

Hamas is using you [Gazans] and is pushing you toward the circle of terrorism," while Shai Hajaj, head of Merhavim Regional Council in southern Israel, said "When the courts in Jerusalem are discussing petitions from left-wing organizations to tie the hands of the soldiers standing in front of the Gaza protesters who want to break through the fence, the arson continues in the field of farmers... We demand that the IDF stop this [Palestinian] violence immediately".

Some of them burned tires, in the hope the smoke would provide cover for saboteurs to destroy and cross the border fence, and threw grenades, pipe bombs and stones at Israeli troops.

[157] Palestinians broke into the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the main conduit of goods in and of the strip, setting a gas pipeline alight, damaging a fuel pipe, and torching a conveyor belt.

[158] On 12 May, Israel announced that the Kerem Shalom border crossing "will remain closed until the damage caused by the riots are repaired and will reopen in accordance with a situation assessment," opening only for humanitarian cases until such a decision is made.

"[204] According to an IDF spokesman, "Saturday's operation aimed to stop arson attacks, attempted border breaches, and assaults on soldiers from Gaza that have grown increasingly violent.

[213][7][214] In response, the Israeli army retaliated with air attacks and tank fire aimed at eight military Hamas posts east of Khan Yunis and near the southern Rafah.

With further escalations expected during the coming weeks, the increasing numbers of injured patients requiring urgent medical care is likely to devastate Gaza's already weakened health system, placing even more lives at risk.

[239] Doctors Without Borders released a statement on 14 May 2018 calling the Israeli response "inhuman and unacceptable" saying that the hospitals in Gaza were overwhelmed and in a chaotic situation comparable to the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was "appalled" at the shooting of Loubani and called for "an immediate independent investigation to thoroughly examine the facts on the ground – including any incitement, violence, and the excessive use of force".

[246][247] In June 2018, Palestinian nurse Rouzan al-Najjar was fatally shot in the chest as she, reportedly with her arms raised to show she was unarmed,[248] tried to help evacuate the wounded near Israel's border fence with Gaza.

[257][258] On 11 April, the military-affiliated Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) published a report in which it stated that 26 of the 32 persons killed belonged to or were affiliated with Palestinian militant groups.

[262] Two Palestinians, Yousef Karnaz and Mohammad Al-Ajouri, each had to have one of their legs amputated after Israeli authorities denied their requests to receive medical treatment at a better-equipped hospital in the West Bank.

[102] On both of the larger protest days, hundreds of primarily young men approached or entered the 300-metre "exclusion zone" declared by Israeli military forces, thrown stones, hurled Molotov cocktails, and attempted to plant Palestinian flags.

[45][97] An investigation by B'Tselem found that Israeli soldiers launched tear gas at family tents, located 400 to 600 metres (1,300 to 2,000 ft) from the fence, causing hundreds of people to suffer injuries.

Costa Rica,[295] Egypt,[296] France,[297] Germany,[298] Indonesia,[299] Jordan,[300] Morocco,[301] South Africa,[302] Sweden,[303] Turkey,[304] and the Vatican[305] have criticized the actions of Israel or both sides of the conflict.

On 15 May, British Prime Minister Theresa May said, speaking alongside Turkish President Erdoğan, that "There is an urgent need to establish the facts of what happened yesterday through an independent and transparent investigation, including why such a volume of live fire was used and what role Hamas played in events.

Shurat HaDin Director Nitzana Darshan-Leitner stated: "The death of a 15-year-old boy near the Gaza border last week was a direct result of the war crimes committed by Hamas leaders against their own people".

"[318] Retired British Colonel Richard Kemp said the March was not a peaceful demonstration, but "a deliberate and specific intent by terrorist organizations to penetrate the State of Israel and kill civilians and the IDF has no option except to use lethal force to stop such a dangerous threat.

"[319] Legal scholar and European Court of Human Rights judge Sir Stephen Sedley opined that the use of live fire against unarmed protesters was "without much question a major crime".

On the Israeli side of the border, observers watched and filmed events using telescopes, long lenses, and feeds from the cameras, drones, quadcopters and tethered surveillance balloons hovering over the sites.

While massive video reporting was available on the Palestinian side of the fence, the IDF only provided the press with a "thin drizzle" of visual evidence, consisting of several dozen unclear images and short clips taken from its security camera coverage of the zone.

[328] Critics like Muhammad Shehada, Jamie Stern-Weiner, and Norman Finkelstein wonder why, given its visual and video intelligence, the IDF did not buttress its claims over armed Hamas activity by providing footage.

[332] On 22 July, Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon, criticized CNN for "unbalanced coverage of recent events in Gaza" after four Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed.