Consulting firm leaves Gaza aid program amid criticism about operations: Report

ISTANBUL

The Boston Consulting Group has ended its participation in relief efforts in the Gaza Strip with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) amid intense criticism about operations, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The prominent US consulting company withdrew personnel from Tel Aviv in late April and suspended a senior partner leading the initiative, pending an internal review, the report stated.

The group reportedly served an integral role in creating the aid delivery system, establishing payment structures and procurement standards for contractors operating four distribution facilities in southern Gaza.

Three individuals familiar with both entities indicated the foundation would face significant challenges continuing without the consultants who established it, considering its involvement in creating the program alongside Israeli coordination.

“They are actually making the wheels turn,” one source informed The Washington Post on the company’s participation in foundation activities.

The company did not immediately respond to Anadolu’s requests for comment.

– Foundation encounters broad condemnation

Israel launched a controversial aid distribution mechanism on May 27, backed by the US, through the GHF.

The mechanism was opposed by the international community and the UN, which comes as an alternative attempt by Israel to bypass the aid distribution through UN channels.

Gaza Media Office said at least 52 Palestinians were killed and 340 injured since Israel’s aid mechanism began May 27.

Foundation director Jake Wood stepped down Monday during the controversy, expressing worries about neutral operations.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave’s more than 2 million people.

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