Israeli security authorities are breathing a sigh of relief. After stormy protests on March 30 in which 19 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured, the number of Gaza residents heeding Hamas’ call to a second demonstration at the border fence with Israel dropped significantly. Despite the Palestinians’ sense of triumph at having challenged the “Zionist enemy,” which fears a mass Palestinian march to its border, only some 10,000 demonstrators showed up at the fence on April 6, according to assessments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In other words, despite the organized busing and repeated calls for Palestinians of the besieged enclave to come out en masse to protest Israel's blockade and to support a return to Palestine, the number of those who showed up plummeted by 75%. According to Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, 40,000 Gazans turned out for the March 30 march.

The high number of casualties during the first demonstration may have kept many Palestinians away from life-threatening clashes the second time around. The event Hamas has dubbed the Great Return March appears to be a resounding failure given that Hamas' leaders had expected 100,000 of Gaza’s 2 million residents to show up for the first demonstration and fewer than half that number actually took part.

“The photos speak for themselves,” a source in Israel’s civil administration for the Palestinian territory told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity. “The number of worshippers at the fence during [Friday] noon prayers was far smaller than on the first week of the protests, and that is significant.”

The source also said that fear of a violent confrontation with Israeli troops was not the only reason Hamas had failed to drum up a larger crowd. “Although Hamas supposedly succeeded in drawing international and Arab attention to the Gaza issue once again, it turned out the movement’s leaders themselves are coming under harsh criticism by residents of the Strip,” he said. “The situation in Gaza today is the worst it has been since the blockade was imposed, and many in Gaza blame Hamas, too, for the terrible state of things.”