The Israeli government has started evicting Israeli settlers from a neighbourhood in the West Bank, the occupied Palestinian territory, after a landmark ruling by the country’s supreme court.

Sixteen families were ordered out of their homes in the Ulpana community because they were built illegally on Palestinian land.

With more than 100 illegal Israeli settlements and about 330,000 settlers in the West Bank, Israel had always circumvented the legality issue by making a distinction between state and private land, saying the UN conventions applied only to private land.

But for the first time, the judicial branch of the government has stepped in, saying that the Ulpana neighbourhood was built on private Palestinian property.

However, the evictions came at a cost: The government approval for 851 new settlement homes in other parts of the West Bank, built as compensation.

Melissa Chan reports from the West Bank.