Boston Consulting Group under fire for role in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading global management consulting firm, has come under major scrutiny for its involvement in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a much criticised entity that currently oversees aid distribution in the Gaza Strip. The controversy centers on BCG’s role in the GHF and the ethical implications of its support amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was established in February as a US-based non-profit with backing from both the Israeli government and the Trump administration. The GHF was designed to create a new aid distribution mechanism in Gaza, bypassing traditional channels such as the United Nations, which had previously coordinated humanitarian relief in the region.

The foundation’s stated aim was to ensure aid reached Gazan civilians directly, avoiding diversion by Hamas.

However, the GHF’s setup was immediately met with skepticism and criticism from the international community, including the United Nations and major humanitarian organizations. These groups refused to participate in the GHF’s operations, citing concerns about neutrality, the militarization of aid, and the foundation’s alignment with Israeli war aims.

To make matters worse, within the first week of its operations, more than 200 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid through the foundation, according to reports from Gaza’s health authorities.

BCG’s Involvement: Design, Management, and Operations

Boston Consulting Group, which is US-headquartered and has 5 offices in the Middle East including a hub in Tel Aviv, played a pivotal role in the creation and operation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. That is according to a detailed reconstruction from The Washington Post.

The consulting firm was hired in late 2023 to help design the foundation’s logistics, business strategy, and operational framework. BCG consultants were involved in mapping the value chain, setting pricing and procurement plans, and managing the network of private security contractors and construction companies that built and operated GHF’s aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza.

BCG’s team worked closely with Israeli officials and was involved up until the launch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation operations in March 2024, following an 11-week blockade of aid into Gaza. 

The strategy and management consulting firm claimed its work was pro bono, but insiders questioned that statement, telling The Washington Post that BCG submitted monthly invoices of $1+ million for its services.

External controversy and internal criticism

The GHF’s model restricted food distribution to a small number of sites, under Israeli oversight, and relied on private security contractors to manage the process. This setup led to several incidents where crowds of Palestinians seeking aid came under gunfire, resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. The head of the UN Palestinian relief agency described the distribution centers as “death traps,” highlighting the dangers posed to civilians by the militarized aid process.

Humanitarian groups and rights organizations condemned the GHF’s operations, arguing that the model was not capable of addressing the scale of Gaza’s hunger crisis and that it risked enabling population transfer and ethnic cleansing. 

Internal documents from BCG looked into by The Washington Post revealed that the firm had developed plans for “humanitarian transition areas” – heavily surveilled compounds where civilians would be relocated and issued identification cards to access aid. Critics compared these plans to “concentration camps”, further fueling outrage.

The backlash was not limited to external actors. Within Boston Consulting Group, employees expressed anger and disappointment at the firm’s involvement in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In a letter sent to the company’s top management, employees said BCG risked complicity in human rights abuses.

They demanded the firm to cease its role, “hold to account all those who dragged BCG into this unenviable situation” and “immediately issue an explanatory note to staff to address their concerns”.

BCG apologizes for its role

The warning from the infuriated group of employees had its effect – the firm this week withdrew its project team from the engagement. And on Thursday, BCG’s CEO Christoph Schweizer issued a public apology on BCG’s involvement, admitting the firm faced “process failures” during the project.

Meanwhile, this morning BCG’s public relations team issued a formal statement on the matter:

“In October 2024, a BCG team led by two Managing Directors & Partners provided pro bono support to help establish an aid organization intended to operate alongside other relief efforts to deliver humanitarian support to Gaza. They failed to disclose the full nature of the work. These individuals then carried out subsequent unauthorized work. Their actions reflected a serious failure of judgment and adherence to our standards.”

“We are shocked and outraged by [the matter]. BCG disavows the work the team undertook. It has been stopped, and BCG has not and will not be paid for any of their work.”

“We are acting with urgency and seriousness to learn from this and to ensure it does not happen again. We deeply regret that in this situation we did not live up to our standards. We are committed to living our values – with accountability for our failures and humility in how we move forward.”