A/HRC/8/18 page 13 Hebron itself. Some 600 settlers live there protected by 1,500 soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, entailing severe restrictions on the freedom of movement of the city’s 165,000 Palestinian inhabitants. This situation has had an enormous economic impact on the city centre and has induced many Palestinians to abandon the Old City.31 35. During the reporting period, Israeli authorities left only one entrance only for local residents and visitors of at least six main routes that lead to the section of the Ibrahimi mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs reserved for Muslim prayers. This entrance is a checkpoint for the Israel Defense Forces, equipped with a metal detector. Muslims who wished to attend religious services in the mosque had to approach from the Kasaba area of the Old City. Therefore, even inhabitants who lived close to the mosque in the city were forced to travel a distance between 1 and 15 kilometres in order to pass through this entrance. Driving a Palestinian vehicle into the Old City was prohibited (except for ambulances, fire engines or municipality vehicles which needed prior coordination to have access to it). In addition, there were three checkpoints along the way leading to the entrance of the mosque, in the form of rotating metal bars, metal detectors and physical checks. Thus, attending prayer in the mosque implied, for most Hebron residents, a long trip, a subsequent walk on foot and passage through three to five checkpoints (depending on the route taken), which tended to be a time-consuming and degrading process. 36. Muslim worshippers were prevented from entering the grounds surrounding the Ibrahimi mosque/Tombs of the Patriarchs except for 10 days each year; on all other days, the area was reserved for the settlers. At the time of writing, the Israeli authorities had reserved 60 per cent of the Ibrahimi mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs for Jewish worshippers and 40 per cent for Muslims. During Jewish holidays, the Israel Defense Forces closed it completely to Muslims. The Israeli authorities also regularly prevented the call to prayer (especially the Maghreb and Isha prayers) when Jews were praying in their section. Waqf authorities reported that the call to prayer was prevented on an average of 50 to 60 times per month. They also voiced their concern over the fact that the settlers regularly use the yards of the Ibrahimi mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs for celebrations, such as weddings or Bar Mitzvahs). 37. Nablus, located 65 kilometres from Jerusalem, is the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. Its population is predominantly Muslim, with Christian and Samaritan minorities. The Old City is replete with major religious sites, including 9 historic mosques, 19 Islamic monuments and a seventeenth-century church.32 Christian, Jewish and Muslim holy places, such as Jacob’s Well and Joseph’s Tomb, are also situated there. 38. At the time of writing, Nablus was encircled by 14 Israeli settlements and 26 settlement outposts. The settlements were connected to each other by a series of roads, used primarily by 31 OCHA - The Humanitarian Impact on Palestinians of Israeli settlements and other infrastructure in the West Bank, July 2007, p. 96, and Ghost town: Israel’s Separation Policy and Forced Eviction of Palestinians from the Center of Hebron, May 2007, B’tselem and Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). 32 Costs of conflict. Nablus after five years of conflict, OCHA, December 2005, p. 1.