Police forces arrived at the outpost of Amona early Thursday morning and began to forcefully remove several hundred Israelis, mostly youth, and the trailers they brought up to the hill.

Several violent scuffles have reportedly occurred during the evacuation, which included the forceful removal of protestors who have barricaded themselves inside the makeshift structures.

Initial reports indicate that 23 police officers were wounded in the incidents. A police spokesman said that the evacuating officers were met with “severe violence,” including rock throwing and the throwing of other heavy objects. An officer was treated for stab wounds in his hands, the police said.

The Honenu legal rights organization, which is providing assistance to the arrested youth, reported at least seven have been arrested so far and described what it termed as “severe police brutality,” including the excessive use of pepper spray against the youth.

Amona, built in the 1990s and situated on the outskirts of Ofra in the Benyamin region, was evacuated and demolished in 2017 after a court ruled that the structures were situated on private Palestinian land.

A group recently placed trailers on the hilltop with the objective of repopulating it and in response to the recent numerous terrorist attacks.

Yisrael Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, condemned the evacuation, saying that “Prime Minister Netanyahu chose not to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar, but unfortunately it was very important for him to evacuate Amona – with his own hands he brought about this evacuation. If you are a settler, apparently you have no rights.”

Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi) called on Netanyahu to stop the evacuation at Amona and reroute the forces to Kahm Al-Ahmar, “which evacuation the High Court of Justice has cleared.