News - Middle East: Clashes have erupted between the Israeli police and anti-regime protesters in Tel Aviv and across the occupied territories resulting in dozens of arrests with the demonstrators calling for new elections and a prisoner exchange agreement with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Israeli media reported that protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv and several other cities on Saturday night, calling for the removal of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the return of captives held in Gaza.

The protests broke just hours after the Israeli military announced that four captives were retrieved during an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which resulted in the killing of at least 210 Palestinians, most of them women and children.  

In Tel Aviv, police said that 33 protesters were arrested following multiple clashes with police.

The police also used water cannon on the protesters and several arrests were also made by the police on horseback as they tackled demonstrators to the ground, according to witness accounts quoted by Israeli media.

 “We’re losing everything, crops are being burnt, tourism is collapsing, the small businesses that are still operating are collapsing, and worst of all, our communities are collapsing,” said one Israeli settler from a settlement in northern occupied Palestine was quoted as saying.