BCG and GHF accused of participating in a mass displacement project for Gaza residents

The British newspaper, the Financial Times, revealed on Sunday that the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) signed a multi-million dollar contract to develop the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) project and worked on developing a plan to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip under the guise of "resettlement."

According to the newspaper's report, which shared the results of an investigation into this Israeli-controlled relief initiative, the American firm Boston Consulting Group helped design and implement the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US- and Israeli-backed project to replace the UN's relief coordination mechanisms in Gaza.

The newspaper reported that senior officials at Boston Consulting Group, including the company's head of risk management and its head of social impact, were involved in the scheme. The scheme involved more than 12 employees from the company working over a seven-month period under a contract worth more than $4 million, according to the newspaper, which did not identify the entity with which the company signed the contract.

The investigation's most notable finding is that the American company prepared a financial model for a post-war reconstruction plan for Gaza, which included the "relocation" of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Strip. One scenario in this model called for more than 500,000 Palestinians to leave the Strip in exchange for a "relocation package" of $9,000 per person, and predicted that approximately 75 percent of them would not return to Gaza.

The report also raises questions about the Boston Group's role in developing the security aspect of the initiative. Following criticism directed at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the American company issued a statement confirming the termination of cooperation with the foundation and the cessation of relief activities in Gaza, according to the Financial Times.

According to the British newspaper, the company said: "The project's primary partner was informed of the firm refusal and violation of our directives, and we disavow this action." The company's statement also indicated that a formal review of the project was underway, adding: "During the investigation, one of the project's co-directors has been placed on temporary administrative leave."

For its part, the Government Media Office in Gaza accused the Boston Consulting Group and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Sunday of involvement in a US-Israeli project to displace residents of the Gaza Strip under a humanitarian guise. This scheme, known as "Aurora," is funded by foreign parties and targets more than half a million Palestinians.

This came in a statement issued by the Government Media Office in Gaza, which confirmed that this model resulted in the deaths of 751 civilians and the injury of approximately 5,000 others. It strongly condemned what it described as "the involvement of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in an American-Israeli scheme to displace our Palestinian people under a misleading humanitarian guise."

The statement explained that "a serious investigation published by the Financial Times revealed the involvement of BCG Group, one of the largest international consulting firms, in preparing a financial model for the displacement of residents of the Gaza Strip as part of a secret project called 'Aurora,' which aimed to displace more than half a million Palestinians in exchange for what were called 'displacement packages' funded by external parties."

The statement added that "the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which oversees what the statement described as 'death traps in the Strip,' represents the executive front for this project. It was established with American-Israeli support and claimed to provide humanitarian aid, but the results of its activities resulted in the martyrdom of 751 civilians, the injury of 4,931 others, and 39 missing persons."

He continued, "130 international humanitarian organizations refused to cooperate with GHF, accusing it of being a 'cover for Israeli military objectives,' with secret funding and support from private American security companies. This led to the expulsion of BCG partners after these schemes were exposed," according to the statement.

The Government Media Office concluded its statement by warning against "the continuation of these criminal projects that market the crime of forced displacement as a 'humanitarian solution,'" holding the parties involved in and supporting these schemes "fully responsible for the crimes committed against civilians," and stressing that "our Palestinian people remain rooted in their land and will not relinquish their inalienable rights until the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territory is removed."