This story originally appeared in Truthout on Aug. 07, 2025. It is shared here with permission.
A top U.S. consulting firm provided modelling for a plan to forcibly relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to Somalia and Somaliland, new reporting reveals, as President Donald Trump was promoting his plan to build the “Riviera of the Middle East” on the ruins of Israel’s genocide.
Financial Times reports that Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the U.S., had mapped out multiple scenarios for relocation, with the supposed aim of providing estimates on the economic implications of the plan. The modeling was done for Israeli business people who were involved in the creation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and were developing post-genocide plans for Gaza.
BCG’s involvement in the Israeli- and U.S.-backed GHF scheme in Gaza has been previously reported, but Financial Times unveiled the firm’s deeper involvement in the genocide in an investigation last month. The modelling project reportedly involved over a dozen employees, lasted over half a year, and covered over $4 million in contracted work, the investigation found.
The firm has since disavowed the modelling work and claimed that top BCG figures were misled about the project. BCG also said that it’s fired the partners leading the GHF and modelling projects.
The modelling project reportedly first began in October of 2024, and went on through May of this year, during which time Trump unveiled his plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians altogether and take it over to build a hub for economic activity and tourism.
One scenario modelled under the project envisioned a quarter of Palestinians being removed through “relocation packages,” or roughly 500,000 people, with the majority of them leaving Gaza permanently.
The packages are worth $9,000 per person, FT reported, in the form of subsidies and cash payments. The firm estimated that it would be $23,000 cheaper per person than allowing them to stay in Gaza while the enclave was being rebuilt.
Someone familiar with the work told the publication: “There is no coercive element here and the plan is not incentivising people to leave. The 25 per cent is a ‘plug number’. The people of Gaza will decide. It is not a plan to empty Gaza.”
However, the modelling work supported plans by figures with an active interest in forcible displacement, giving them financial scenarios to work from. It projected $4.7 billion in economic benefits for countries where Palestinians were relocated to.
“By accepting the Gazans who relocate temporarily and voluntarily, a country will get an injection of population that will have an economic benefit that clearly could be significant,” one person familiar told Financial Times. “The idea was to understand the economic issues related to options that President Trump had put on the table.”
U.S. and Israeli officials have previously floated the idea of relocating Palestinians to Somalia and Somaliland, which have rejected the idea. The U.S. State Department already has a top-level travel advisory against visiting Somalia due to violence in the country. Somaliland is a self-declared nation within the territory of Somalia, currently unrecognized by any UN member state. There are already millions of internally displaced people in Somalia and Somaliland, while millions are facing malnutrition and food insecurity due to ongoing fighting there.
The report is further evidence of the U.S. private sector’s involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as its postwar plans, which have been repeatedly condemned by UN officials. Haaretz reported this week that U.S.-based Arkel International LLC, a logistics and construction firm, is one of three subcontractors working with GHF, alongside UG Solutions and Safe Reach Solutions.
Arkel oversees the logistics of GHF’s operations, which have been described by humanitarian groups as a honeytrap for Israel to attract starving Palestinians only to massacre them. Arkel employs people who transport trucks loaded with supplies to distribution points in Gaza, escorted by Israeli forces.
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Author: Sharon Zhang
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