It is not possible to split a list into two parts. Pressing the Enter key just inserts empty items. To do this edit I had to duplicate the list, and remove half of the items in each copy. There should be a better way to do so.
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While not very convenient, this *is* achievable by un-indenting one of the list items in the middle.
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I tested in LibreOffice Writer: To split a list, you have to press the Enter key twice, the first one creates an empty item in the middle of the list, the second one removes that empty item and replaces it by a paragraph. That is what I intuitively tried in my edit, but this doesn't work in VE. In LibreOffice, unindenting the item actually just unindents it.
Of course, LibreOffice isn't "most editors", but I wouldn't be surprised if the method "press Enter twice" is more common.
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As noted in the description, there are two competing use cases for repeatedly hitting enter whilst in a list: creating new list items, and changing indenting. Personally, I've found it just as annoying to have to manually use indentation controls in VisualEditor as I have to add multiple blank items to a list in editors that implement the other pattern. If anything, I'd say I prefer VisualEditor's way doing things; I more frequently want to add extra blank items than I want to change indentation.
This would need considerable thought, and it's not worth devoting the time to it right now.