The IDF announced on Saturday evening it was shutting down its main cargo crossing into Gaza after Palestinian protesters caused extensive damage to it, and that it had also destroyed an attack tunnel militants dug near its main pedestrian crossing.

The twin developments come ahead of a potentially charged week along the Israel-Gaza border as weekly protests being staged there are expected to culminate with a potential breach of the border and a surge in casualties.

Once again, thousands of Palestinians protested Friday in various locations along the frontier. Later, a group of Palestinians burned a fuel complex and conveyor belt on their side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, causing more than $9 million in damages and disrupting the import of diesel fuel and building materials, the military said. It said the attack rendered the main fuel and gas lines unusable and caused further damage to electrical infrastructure and other vital equipment.

Earlier today, dozens of rioters vandalized & ignited fires on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom humanitarian crossing in Gaza. The rioters damaged gas pipelines that run from Israel to Gaza & benefit the Gaza’s residents pic.twitter.com/W1AY8dIPOU

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 11, 2018

Hamas terrorists destroyed yesterday the gas and fuel pipelines & humanitarian aid facilities at the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom humanitarian crossing. The crossing will be closed on our side so it could be repaired.

Israel cares about Gaza much more than Hamas & the PA pic.twitter.com/wiM8QPjMPt

— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 12, 2018

The military said the Kerem Shalom crossing will be closed until further notice and not before the damage is repaired.

This is what’s left of the only humanitarian crossing that supplies Gaza w/ everything it neeeds from Israel: gas, fuel, goods & food.

It was intentionally destroyed yesterday by Hamas terrorists. Hamas, a genocidal terror org, has perpatrated another crime against Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/85drfv7G0N

— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 12, 2018

A lengthy closing of the crossing would deliver further devastation to Gaza’s already dire humanitarian crisis. The fuel installation is the only way to bring diesel fuel into Gaza for operating generators for hospitals and other key facilities. The military distributed a video showing Palestinians cheering as a fire was set. It was the second such attack on the facility in a week, it said. “Hamas continues to lead the residents of Gaza to destroy the only assistance they receive,” the army said.

Late Saturday, the military carried out several airstrikes in the northern Gaza strip, near the Erez border crossing, to destroy a Hamas tunnel that was being built there.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the tunnel was being tracked for weeks and had been destroyed just a few meters (feet) inside Gaza. It’s the sixth such Hamas tunnel Israel has destroyed in as many months thanks to the military’s new technological means to detect and destroy them.

“It’s fair to say that Hamas is killing Gaza by its terror activities against humanitarian facilities and by focusing on terror tunnels towards Israel,” said @LTCJonathan pic.twitter.com/PG88YqNcKS

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 12, 2018

Hamas called the airstrikes a “failed attempt” to prevent it’s protests.

“Our people’s response will come on Monday by marching” to the fence, it said in a statement.

The IDF has destroyed in the last 3 months 9 terror tunnels dug by the Hamas terror organization in order to infiltrate Israel and to murder Israeli families in their own homes.

The tunnels’ destruction has saves many many lives. pic.twitter.com/kse6NPeZ95

— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 12, 2018

Conricus said both incidents proved Israel’s long-standing claim that Hamas, and other terror groups, were merely using the popular mass protests as cover for attacks against Israel. He said the military was doubling its troops along the border in advance of this week’s protests and that Israel would not allow the area to become an active combat zone.

“This really shows the cynicism of the Hamas terror organization toward the citizens they are supposed to care for,” Conricus told reporters. “Hamas is killing Gaza with its terrorist activities against civilian facilities.”

The Hamas terror tunnel that was destroyed tonight by the IDF was dug underneath the Erez humanitarian crossing, through which Gazans enter Israel for medical care.

Another tunnel was dug underneath the Keresm Shalom humanitarian crossing.

Hamas harms Palestinians on purpose! pic.twitter.com/AAhImcsMtR

— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 12, 2018

An extended closing of the cargo crossing could be particularly painful. Cooking gas and fuel, which are delivered to Gaza through Kerem Shalom on a daily basis, are the first and most essential items likely to be affected. A fear of shortage had already engulfed Gaza late Saturday, as more cars were lining up at gas station to stock on diesel and gasoline.

The Hamas-run petrol authority in Gaza ordered that cooking gas not be provided to people with canisters on Sunday. “This is to measure how much we have and to see how much this can serve the citizens,” said Khalil Shaqfa of the petrol authority.

Palestinians in Gaza have been staging weekly protests at the border fence against a decade-old blockade of the territory. The demonstrations have been organized by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, but are fueled by despair among the territory’s 2 million residents. The vast majority are barred from travel and trade, while the blockade has gutted the economy.

A Palestinian was killed and 175 were wounded by Israeli army fire on Friday. The Palestinian health ministry said a teenage boy died Saturday after he was shot in the head by Israeli fire on the Gaza-Israel border.

The death raises to 42 the number of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces since weekly protests began on March 30. More than 1,800 have been wounded. The coming week could see a further uptick in violence, as Palestinians are planning much larger protests to coincide with the United States relocating its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem on Monday and the 70th anniversary of their “nakba,” or catastrophe — referring to their mass uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel’s 1948 creation — on Tuesday.

Israel says it has a right to defend its border and has accused Hamas of using the protests as a cover for attacking the border.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008. During the most recent conflict in 2014, Israel destroyed 32 tunnels and it has placed a high priority on halting the tunnel threat since Hamas infiltrated Israel during the war. Although they did not manage to reach civilian areas, the infiltrations caught Israel off guard, with one attack killing five soldiers, and terrified the local population.

Israel is building a subterranean barrier to detect and prevent attack tunnels. Israel says the barrier, as well as new technological innovations, have rendered the Hamas tunnel project futile.

(AP)