Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to what they say is a tunnel used by Hamas terrorists during a ground operation in a location given as Gaza, in this handout image released Nov. 9, 2023. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS

Images of the destruction in Gaza are shaping the narrative against Israel. But what if the world could see Hamas’ terror tunnels under schools and hospitals?

What if they could see proof of the underground network that Hamas is using to evade capture, hide hostages, and put innocent people in harm’s way?

Now they can.

Using open-source data, HonestReporting has been mapping the terror tunnel network running under Gaza. Our new interactive tool brings the extent of this terror tunnel network to light and brings the stories of its use to life — for the public and the media.

So when there is a bombing in Gaza, the media will be able to see that Israel is targeting the terror tunnels under schools, hospitals, and mosques, and not the civilians in the buildings above them.

You are invited to enter the first and only resource currently available for disseminating the enormity of Hamas’ tunnel system — the backbone of the Gaza Strip’s terrorist infrastructure — to get an unprecedented insight into how Hamas has turned Gaza into a full-scale terror hub.

For the first time ever, explore the underground war Hamas is waging beneath Gaza.

We’ve mapped Hamas’ tunnel network—buried under homes, hospitals, & schools. Built with open-source data, it’s the only resource of its kind.

Explore the map here: https://t.co/wYMZloV7fh pic.twitter.com/rCf0fr7EMS

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 24, 2025

Hamas has used the tunnel network and its associated infrastructure to hide behind the civilian population, turning two million Palestinians into human shields.

Use our interactive map to explore the Gaza Strip, see the places that have made headlines since Hamas’ brutal October 7, 2023, attacks, and start to understand why Israel has been forced to operate in the most complex and challenging conflict zone ever experienced in modern warfare.

This is just the beginning. So far, we’ve verified only a small percentage of Gaza’s tunnel network. But it is still possible to simulate the rest of the vast web that crisscrosses the Strip. As more information becomes available, this resource will be updated.

Every tunnel and shaft that is plotted has been confirmed using open-source technology. We have additional tunnels that are unplotted and unmapped because they cannot be independently verified.

For the past 15 to 25 years, Hamas has invested enormous amounts of money and resources into developing an intricate and sophisticated network of tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip.

These tunnels, which make up the backbone of Hamas’ eternal war against the Jewish State, are used by the terror group to conceal weapons stores and control AND command centers, to move terrorists undetected, to imprison Israeli hostages, and to smuggle goods and weapons in from Egypt.

It is currently estimated that there are between 350 and 450 miles of tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip, with roughly 5,700 entrance shafts located throughout the 140-square-mile territory, including in and near local schools, mosques, health facilities, residential buildings, and homes.

The depth of each tunnel varies, with some tunnels only tens of feet underground while others reach a depth of 230 feet (roughly the height of a 20-story building).

Similarly, while most tunnels are only six feet wide and five feet high, some are big enough to accommodate a large vehicle.

These tunnels feature sophisticated systems, including electricity, telephone lines, railways, ventilation, and long-term food storage.

While regular Gazans rely on international aid to survive, Hamas has invested three million dollars into each tunnel, running up a tab of approximately 1 billion dollars over 15 years.

Instead of using international donations to build up the Gaza Strip, Hamas diverts 350 truckloads of supplies to build each tunnel.

Not only does Hamas steal money and aid from Gazan civilians to build these tunnels, but it also endangers these same civilians by making Gazans of all ages (including children) build the tunnels and embedding this military infrastructure within civilian areas.

Whether you are a journalist, academic, pundit, or anyone else with an interest in the Middle East, we hope you find that this comprehensive resource will help you better understand the realities of the Gaza Strip and its vast tunnel network, which poses a threat to both Israelis suffering from Hamas terrorism and Palestinians who have witnessed Hamas prioritize its own interests above those of its people.

HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Now You Can See Hamas’ Terror Tunnel Network Firsthand first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Thomas Barrack, a billionaire friend of Donald Trump who chaired the former president’s inaugural fund, exits following a not guilty verdict at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, US, Nov. 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Thomas Barrack, a private equity leader and long-time supporter of President Donald Trump, as the new US ambassador to Turkey, a country which has had a tumultuous relationship with Washington in recent years despite their shared membership in the NATO alliance.

Barrack’s confirmation passed with a 60-36 vote, largely supported by Republican senators, who control 53 out of the Senate’s 100 seats.

In his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month, Barrack highlighted Turkey’s strategic significance as a US ally and emphasized Ankara’s position within NATO.

“Sitting at the most strategic crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, Turkey’s NATO contributions are numerous,” he told lawmakers.

While speaking to committee members, he underscored the strength and size of Turkey’s military, the second largest in NATO.

Barrack’s confirmation comes as Turkey has continued to support the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and be one of the world’s most vocal critics of Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East, amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

Turkey has long hosted senior Hamas officials, such as Marwan Muhammad Abu Ras, who in recent months has spread pro-terrorist propaganda in speeches and on the country’s state-controlled media outlets. 

“The Qassam Brigades [the military wing of Hamas] are at the forefront of the war and the jihad. … You must support the Qassam Brigades — with your prayers, your wealth, your politics, your weapons, with everything you have, you must support the Qassam Brigades,” Abu Ras said during a rally in southeastern Turkey earlier this month, according to the Nordic Research and Monitoring Network.

Several Hamas leaders have established residence in Turkey, often accompanied by their families. Some have acquired Turkish citizenship and passports, integrating further into the country. Many have even invested heavily in the real estate sector and now operate multi-million-dollar businesses. In addition to their commercial activities, these individuals remain actively involved in fundraising efforts that support Hamas’s international network.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the most vocal anti-Israel voices during the Gaza war. In February, for example he demanded that Israel pay reparations “for the harm it inflicted through its aggressive actions in Gaza.”

Last year, Erdogan made an explicit threat to invade Israel, leading Israel’s foreign minister to call on NATO to expel Turkey. Ankara also called on the United Nations to use force if it can’t stop Israel’s military campaign against Hamas.

Turkey has reportedly blocked cooperation between NATO and Israel since October 2023 because of the war in Gaza and said the alliance should not engage with Israel as a partner until the conflict ends.

Last year, Ankara also ceased all exports and imports to and from Israel, citing the “humanitarian tragedy” in the Palestinian territories as the reason.

Erdogan has frequently defended Hamas terrorists as “resistance fighters” against what he described as an Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. He and other Turkish leaders have repeatedly compared Israel with Nazi Germany and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Adolf Hitler

The day after Barrack’s confirmation, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) released a report arguing that the Trump administration should keep Turkey out of the US F-35 fifth-generation fighter program, calling the country a “potentially threatening regional power” and citing Ankara’s extensive ties to Hamas. 

“The United States must carefully consider whether Turkey, a rising, and potentially threatening, regional power led by the authoritarian, pro-Hamas, neo-Ottoman President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, can be trusted with this advanced jet,” the report stated.

JINSA noted Turkey’s decision to acquire the Russian S-400 air and missile defense system, despite repeated warnings from US officials. Washington ultimately blocked Turkey from procuring and producing the F-35 as a result. Ankara has sought to be readmitted into the program, and the Trump administration has reportedly been working on a deal to sell Turkey the jets if it relinquishes the S-400.

The post US Senate Confirms Thomas Barrack as Ambassador to Turkey Amid Concern Over Ankara’s Hamas Support first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Harvard University president Alan Garber attending the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Harvard University has released its long anticipated report on campus antisemitism and along with it an apology from interim president Alan Garber which acknowledged that school officials failed in key ways to address the hatred to which Jewish students were subjected following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.

The over 300-page document, released on Tuesday, provides a complete account of antisemitic incidents which transpired on Harvard’s campus in recent years — from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee’s (PSC) endorsement of the Oct. 7 terrorist atrocities to an anti-Zionist faculty group’s sharing an antisemitic cartoon which depicted Jews as murderers of people of color — and said that one source of the problem is the institution’s past refusal to afford Jews the same protections against discrimination enjoyed by other minority groups. It also issued recommendations for improving Jewish life on campus going forward.

“I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community. The grave, extensive impact of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and its aftermath had serious repercussions on campus,” Garber said in the statement that accompanied the report. “Harvard cannot — and will not — abide bigotry. We will continue to provide for the safety and security of all members of our community and safeguard their freedom from harassment. We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the university is a place where ideas are welcomed, entertained, and contested in the spirt of seeking truth; where argument proceeds without sacrificing dignity; and where mutual respect is the norm.”

The committee charged with writing the report — the Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Bias — said that Harvard should enact a slew of reforms to achieve Garber’s hopes for the institution. It recommended reforming admissions to foster an “environment where each student is in genuine community with people with whom one may disagree”; using pre-orientation programs as a time for preparing new Harvard students for the immensity of being selected for membership in an elite institution of higher learning; reforming “time and place” policies which govern expression and peaceful assembly; and requiring offices charged with investigating complaints of discrimination to appoint an official who specializes in antisemitism and anti-Zionist bias.

“It is clear to the task force that antisemitism and anti-Israel bias have been fomented, practiced, and tolerated not only at Harvard but also within academia more widely,” the report continued. “We urge Harvard’s leadership, including the president, provost, deans, faculties, and offices of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging to become champions in the fight against antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias — first at Harvard, and then as a model for institutions of higher learning everywhere.”

Further recommending that Harvard empower members of the task force to monitor the university’s implementation of its proposed policies, the report added, “We further call on Harvard’s leaders to combat, with equal resolve, all other forms of prejudice and intolerance, including anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias. This charge is made with particular urgency to those schools that operate in deeply politicized fields, such as medicine, public health, and education.”

Harvard’s report on campus antisemitism comes as the university prepares for a protracted legal battle with the Trump administration over the federal government’s impounding billions of dollars of taxpayer funds previously awarded to it, a measure imposed on the institution after it rejected policy suggestions proposed by the Trump administration to make it, according to the government, more meritocratic and less welcoming to left-wing extremists and antisemites. Throughout this conflict, US President Donald Trump has denounced the university as a betrayer of American values.

“Harvard is an Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institute, as are numerous others, with students being accepted from all over the World that want to rip our Country apart,” Trump said, writing on Truth Social on Thursday. “The place is a Liberal mess, allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake ANGER and HATE [sic]. It is truly horrific. Now, since our filings began, they act like they are all ‘American Apple Pie.’ Harvard is a threat to democracy.”

Harvard has since taken steps towards meeting the Trump administration halfway, including by releasing the antisemitism report as was demanded of it on April 21. In March, it paused a partnership with a higher education institution located in the West Bank. On Thursday, just days after suing the Trump administration to stop its sequestration of federal funds, it moved to relocate disciplinary processes to the office of the president — a Trump administration demand. Most notably, Harvard has defunded segregated graduation ceremonies it has held for decades to legitimate a strain of identity politics which rejects racial integration and the shared destiny of the American people. Conservatives have argued for years that Harvard’s embrace of identity politics contributed to antisemitism on the campus.

More remains to be seen from the university, the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, a group formed amid the post-Oct. 7 antisemitic outrages, said on Wednesday, writing on X.

“We appreciate the report’s identification of 3 problematic academic frameworks fueling campus antisemitism: denying Jewish connection to our ancestral homeland, embracing a distorted settler-colonialism framework, and refusing to recognize Jews as a historically vulnerable group,” the group said. “We now await concrete action plans from deans and meaningful implementation from President Garber, particularly regarding oversight of academic programs, accountability measures, and clear responsibility with metrics and public reporting.”

It added, “We remain concerned that the report retreats to comfortable academic parlance about ‘balance’ and ‘constructive dialogue’ in the face of factually incorrect narratives. Let’s hope Harvard isn’t burying a serious problem in the spectacle of academia.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Harvard Releases Long Awaited Antisemitism Task Force Report — and an Apology From the University’s President first appeared on Algemeiner.com.