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Israeli Firefighters fought 20 fires in southern Israel last night, after kites carrying firebombs were flown from the Gaza strip.

Two large fires broke out near Kibbutz Nir Am, northeast of the Gaza Strip, with other fires reported in Moshav Netiv Ha’asara, Kissufim, Nirim, Ein Hashlosha and Reim.

Firefighters were able to prevent a fire spreading to Sapir College, near the southern town of Sderot, after the field adjacent to it caught fire. The Route 232 motorway in southern Israel was closed until the flames could be brought under control.

Minister for Public Security Gilad Erdan said he “expect[ed] the IDF to handle these kite-flyers exactly as they would any terrorist”.

The Palestinian Ambassador to France, Salman al-Harfi, was reported as saying “Iran is fully financing and pushing the Hamas demonstrations” on Israeli Channel 10 News last night. Last week Iran agreed to renew funding for Hamas. It had previously supplied more than $100m a year for weapons and military hardware.

The Jewish National Fund, the charity that owns much of the nature reserves damaged by the fires, said it would be suing Hamas in international courts for “environment terrorism”.

The Israeli army announced details of its initial investigation into the death of Rouzen al-Najjar, a 22-year-old Palestinian medic who was shot during riots on the Gaza border on 1 June. The army said she was killed accidentally and “no gunfire was directly or intentionally fired at her,” but stray fire from a ricochet or missed shot hit and killed her. The incident will now be the subject of a General Staff investigation .