The protests, which drew thousands on Friday across a 40-mile stretch along the Israel-Gaza border, demanded that Palestinians be allowed to go back to homes within Israel from which they or their families have been displaced.
Similar protests over the past month have left estimated 30 people dead, and more than 1,000 people have been wounded, according to Palestinian reports. Israeli officials have questioned the reported number of injuries.
The protests are part of a six-week campaign, known by some as the "Great March of Return," organized mostly by Hamas, an Islamic militant group, which claims to be advocating for the peaceful return of Palestinians to their homelands.
Unemployment nears 50 percent, and electricity and potable water are in limited supply in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas and has been the subject of a blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007.
In January, Franciscan Sister Bridget Tighe, the director of Caritas in Jerusalem, told the National Catholic Register that "most of the people in Gaza are poor to destitute...I have been to homes where there was no food."
"The horror of this tragedy underlines how the political process, along with the economy, are paralyzed, and living conditions for the Palestinians have worsened, leaving communities with deepened levels of desperation and frustration," said Neil Thorns, director of advocacy for the Catholic aid group CAFOD, in a recent press release.