Video has emerged of a Dutch MP wearing a Palestinian flag pin refusing to shake hands with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Tunahan Kuzu, a former Labour MP who founded the multi-ethnic, pro-immigration party Denk (Think) in 2014, made the gesture before Mr Netanyahu attended a meeting in The Hague with the Dutch parliamentary affairs committee while on a two-day visit to the Netherlands.

Footage of the incident shows Mr Kuzu withdraw his right hand from the Israeli leader as he extends his, telling him: “I refuse to shake hands with you”.

In a statement posted to Facebook, Mr Kuzu said his gesture was intended as a protest over the abuses committed against Palestinian civilians living under Israeli military rule in the occupied territories.

Mr Kuzu added that following the incident on 7 September, he confronted Mr Netanyahu away from the cameras with pictures purporting to show Palestinians being abused in Gaza and the West Bank, including one of a 12-year-old boy placed in headlock by an Israeli soldier, The Intercept reports.

He allegedly asked the Prime Minister if the pictures promoted “democracy, technology, and security in the region” – words Mr Netanyahu had previously used to describe Israel.

Following the rebuff, Mr Netanyahu said in a video message: "Today, we saw another clear example – of those who want peace and those who don’t", seemingly referring to Mr Kuzu.

On Tuesday, the US said it will provide Israel's military with $38 billion during the next 10 years - the largest batch of military assistance the US has ever pledged to another country.

The deal follows months of negotiations amid increasingly strained relations between Mr Netanyahu and the Obama administration.

Ties between the countries worsened significantly when the US and world powers struck a nuclear deal with Iran, who Israel considers to be an existential threat.

While last week, Mr Netanyahu drew sharp criticism from the US after he released a video message saying the Palestinians wanted to form a state devoid of a Jewish population and termed it "ethnic cleansing".

In the message, Mr Netanyahu said in reference to the removal of Israeli settlements in the West Bank: "The Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one pre-condition: ‘No Jews’. There's a phrase for that: ‘It's called ethnic cleansing. And this demand is outrageous’."

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Youths attend the funeral of Ahmad Sharake who was shot during clashes with Israeli forces in Jelazun refugee camp, near Ramallah, West Bank. Tensions in the area continue to run high following a series of stabbing attacks that have occurred around Israel in clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces Getty Images The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The Israeli–Palestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child

Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that a future Palestinian state would not permit a single Israeli settler to live within its borders.

In response to the clip, US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau described the Israeli leader's words as "inappropriate and unhelpful".

Thousands of people staged a protest in The Hague in response to Mr Netanyahu’s visit, with many of the demonstrators carrying mug shots of Mr Netanyahu reading “Bring Bibi Netanyahu to International Criminal Court” and “Free Palestine, boycott Israel”, PressTV reports.

Broadcaster NOS said Mr Kuzu had been a replacement at the meeting for Rik Grashoff, an MP from left-wing green party GroenLinks that opposes the role of Israel in the Middle East, who did not attend the event on principle, Dutch News reports.

During the visit Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a speech that his government was calling for an immediate end to the creation of Jewish only settlements in territory seized by Israel and that the country would not prevent citizens from taking part in Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movements against firms that aid Israel’s occupation.

Prior to Mr Netanyahu's’s visit, the former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt described Mr Netanyahu as a war criminal who should be tried in the International Criminal Court.

Most countries view Israeli West Bank settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel rejects this, saying Jews have been living in the territory for thousands of years.

The Palestinians hope to establish an independent state in the occupied West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, along with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.