Almost one week ago, Hamas started encouraging people<\/a> in Gaza to attend a \u201cGreat March of Return<\/a>\u201d along the border with Israel. Around the same time, Hamas test fired a rocket<\/a> and days before the protest, a number of armed and unarmed Arab Palestinians were caught infiltrating Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n The United Nations envoy for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, warned both sides to \u201cexercise restraint and to take the necessary steps to avoid violent escalation<\/a>\u201d and specifically cautioned against putting civilians and children at risk. Israel also warned civilians against attending the Hamas-organised event<\/a> through social media, leaflets dropped from airplanes and statements to news outlets.<\/p>\n The Israeli Defence Forces deployed more than one hundred snipers to the border<\/a>, anticipating violence. On Friday, the start of Easter and Passover, approximately 30,000 people<\/a> gathered in five centres along the border with Israel with Hamas claiming it was to be a peaceful protest.<\/p>\n However, there was violence<\/a>. Rioters threw Molotov cocktails, hurled stones, tried to destroy the border fence, and shot at Israel while others chanted \u201cKill the Jews<\/a>\u201d. The IDF response injured dozens and killed 16<\/a>. Of those killed, the IDF has identified 10 as being known terrorists<\/a>. One of the protesters not injured was a seven year old girl that was sent across the border<\/a> – she was picked up by Israeli soldiers and returned to her parents.<\/p>\n Although the protests were less violent on Saturday, Hamas has vowed to continue encouraging people to rally for another six weeks and the IDF has warned that further violence will be met with an expanded response, possibly targeting terrorist infrastructure within Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n