Israel's Supreme Court hearing on a petition to delay the eviction of an unauthorized Israeli outpost in the West Bank concluded without a decision on Tuesday, enabling residents there to remain in their homes for several more days.

In March, the court reaffirmed its ruling that Migron, a 50- family hilltop community north of Jerusalem, was illegally built on private Palestinian property, and the state last week set the deadline for its evacuation for the morning of Aug. 28.

However, on Monday afternoon, the outpost's residents turned to the court and asked to defer their eviction, claiming that the alternate housing site comprised of modular homes that the state built for them -- located some 2 kilometers away -- will not be ready for several weeks, as it presently lacks electricity and running water.

A previous order to dismantle the outpost by Aug. 1 was postponed after 17 families filed a petition in which they claimed to have purchased the land on which their homes are located from its Palestinians owners.

The court said it would announce its decision on the fate of the 17 families in the coming days, and Migron's residents said in the wake of Tuesday's hearing that they were hopeful that some of them will ultimately be spared the trauma of leaving their homes.

Attorney Michael Sfard, who is representing the Palestinian land owners, Tuesday urged the court to conclude the issue and order the demolition of Migron, The Jerusalem Post reported.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a champion of settlement construction, said the government respected the court's decision regarding Migron, expressing hope that its evacuation "will be done in a peaceful way."

In July, the Ulpana neighborhood, an outpost formerly adjacent to a major settlement that the court said infringed on Palestinian land, was dismantled after several months of bitter altercations that rattled Netanyahu's coalition.