Israeli soldiers and police gathered Wednesday in the West Bank to carry out the eviction of roughly 50 families still living in an unauthorized outpost there.

The military has ordered people to leave Amona, which the Israeli Supreme court ruled in 2014 was built on private Palestinian land and must be demolished.

Several people have tried to resist the evacuation order by setting fires, throwing stones at police and clogging roads with large rocks.

The eviction operation came as Israel approved the construction of 3,000 new settlement homes at other locations in the West Bank.

The defense ministry said late Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman approved the new housing.

Settlements have been a major source of friction between Israelis and Palestinians, especially during efforts to negotiate a peace agreement.  Palestinians claim the West Bank and East Jerusalem — another site of settlement construction — as parts of their envisioned territory under a two-state solution.
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