Updated

Israel's Supreme Court has ruled that a contested West Bank settlement housing complex must be demolished.

The Israeli government had fought the ruling and made efforts to legalize the complex, under construction in Beit El without Israeli authorization. The Supreme Court rejected a petition Wednesday to overturn the court's initial ruling to demolish the complex.

The court ordered that the demolition be completed Thursday.

The military has declared the complex a closed military zone and removed protesters that had holed themselves up inside.

Tempers are high among some in the settler community as it marks a decade since Israel's "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip, when Israel in the summer of 2005 withdrew all its civilians and soldiers from all of the settlements in the coastal territory.