Written by: Younis Al-Tirawi - Jerusalem

Just one month ago, in one of the bloodiest crimes against humanitarian action in decades, an Israeli military commander perpetrated a horrific massacre in the Gaza Strip, killing fifteen humanitarian aid workers. This commander, identified by Pal Commission, is Major Nikolai (Niko) Ashurov, a Russian national who served as deputy commander of the Golani Brigade's reconnaissance battalion. In a tragic irony, just three days after his discharge from the army, Ashurov left for the Congo to work as a mercenary for a private security company.

The details of the crime date back to the early hours of March 23, 2025, when a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance was on its way to rescue victims of a previous Israeli bombardment of the Hashashin neighborhood of Rafah. As it passed through the Barakasat area west of the city, soldiers from the Golani Reconnaissance Unit set up a deadly ambush, opening heavy fire on the ambulances, killing two paramedics and arresting a third. Later, a convoy of ambulances and civil defense vehicles headed to the same location met the same fate. Eight Red Crescent personnel and five civil defense personnel were killed, while one civil defense member was arrested and his whereabouts remain unknown. A short time later, a UN employee who arrived at the scene after hearing gunfire while attempting to provide assistance was executed.

The massacre was not impromptu. A legal draft reviewed by Al-Quds, prepared by legal experts from the New York-based Pal Commission, established that the attack was carried out under the direct orders of Nikolai Ashurov, who commanded the force on the ground. The evidence compiled by the draft included military records, social media activity, and multiple interactions with acquaintances and soldiers connected to the officer, all of which prove that Ashurov ordered his soldiers to open fire indiscriminately.

Statements by Israeli military leaders in the days preceding the massacre revealed the mentality that led to this crime. In a video recording, the battalion commander, Lt. Col. David Cohen, is seen giving orders to his soldiers before they entered Rafah, saying: "Everyone we encounter is an enemy. If you see anyone, kill him immediately. Don't hesitate." This doctrine of mass killing was also confirmed by Colonel Tal Elkobi, commander of the 14th Brigade, under which the battalion operated, when he told the Hebrew press that they "rain down heavy fire on the area before each attack, so that only those who survive are killed."

Commenting on these statements, Professor Luigi Danieli, a professor of the law of armed conflict at the University of Nottingham in Britain, described what is happening to Al-Quds newspaper as "a complete collapse of the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants," asserting that "every Palestinian in Gaza has become a legitimate target for killing by decision of a field commander."

Israeli sources revealed that one day after the Pal Commission revealed the officer's identity, Lt. Col. Cohen sent an internal message to his troops, stressing that the operation "was not a moral failure, quite the opposite." Cohen stated that "Niko," i.e., Nikolai Ashurov, was the battalion's deputy commander during the operation, praising him as an "outstanding and principled officer," and emphasizing that "the unit's leadership strongly supports the actions of every fighter who participated in the mission."

Professor Danieli believes that the Israeli battalion commander's statements are not an isolated incident, but rather a clear reflection of "systematic criminality" and "complete dehumanization." In his explanation, he noted that this dehumanization is not limited to combat behavior, but also extends to the way these commanders reinterpret the laws of war to justify their crimes. "These fighters are convinced that killing Palestinian civilians—including children—is not only a legitimate and moral act, but is seen as an act of heroism," Danieli said. He added that the commander's statement, "There is no moral failure, quite the opposite," clearly sums up this approach.

Danieli continues: “Israeli officers feel entitled to ignore any legal constraints, believing that some superior morality or special privilege justifies their actions. This is the fundamental truth: a delusion of genocide. A delusion made possible by years of whitewashing in Western discourse, in which concepts like ‘human shields’ and ‘collateral damage’ have been endlessly manipulated to obscure the clear and routine reality of mass killing, carried out indiscriminately and openly—even when the intent is not direct extermination, the near-absolute certainty of the outcome legally amounts to criminal intent to commit genocide, according to the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court.”

According to an internal IDF investigation reviewed by Haaretz, the commander responsible for planning the attack was the deputy battalion commander, a position held by Ashurov at the time. Although the IDF's own investigation found no suspicious activity in the area, Ashurov ordered the ambulances to be fired upon as soon as they passed.

In the first attack, a Palestinian ambulance was targeted, killing two paramedics and capturing one survivor. In the second attack, as the relief convoy approached, Ashurov ordered his forces to unleash a new barrage of bullets, killing 12 more, some of whom were executed at close range, according to investigations. This was confirmed by eyewitness Dr. Saeed al-Bardawil, who was detained with the force and witnessed the crime firsthand. Ashurov himself opened fire on a UN vehicle, killing Kamal Shahtout, the UN field security officer in Rafah.

Nikolai Ashurov is not just an ordinary soldier. He was born in Russia and immigrated to Israel as a child, settling with his family in the city of Sderot. During his military service, he held several command positions in the Golani Brigade, commanding platoons and companies in the special reconnaissance unit. Shortly before his discharge, he participated in a military mission to Morocco as part of the "African Lion" exercise organized by the US Africa Command.

In an attempt to confirm Nikolai Ashurov's identity, we focused on a striking detail highlighted by Hallel Biton-Rozin, the military correspondent for Israel's Channel 14. In her report, she spoke about "N." She described him as "one of Israel's heroes," saying that after being discharged from military service, he moved into business in Africa. However, the injury of the battalion's deputy commander necessitated his urgent return to the army, where he "didn't hesitate for a moment; he left everything and returned," she said.

But talk of "business in Africa" wasn't as innocent as the reports suggested. From the start, we were suspicious: Information indicated that several Israeli soldiers—mutual friends of officer Nikolai Ashurov—operated as mercenaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during 2023. This raised questions about Ashurov's possible involvement in these activities. Initially, we had no direct evidence linking Ashurov to any operations in Africa, other than his social connections. However, the turning point came just three days after he completed his military service: One of his closest friends, Moshe Hasid—himself the target of our investigation—posted an explicit recruitment advertisement on his personal Facebook page for "combat soldiers to train African armies," promising high salaries. This is when the story began to unravel.

Moshe Hasid isn't just a casual friend of Nikolai Ashurov; they have a longstanding relationship dating back to 2021, with Hasid having previously publicly expressed support for him, adding a personal and professional dimension to their collaboration. We reached out to Hasid posing as a recruiter interested in the job. The response was swift: "Hello, brother, talk to him," along with a phone number and a picture of his WhatsApp profile—which, to our surprise, was that of Nikolai Ashurov himself, the perpetrator of the Rafah massacre.

In a WhatsApp exchange, Ashurov confirmed that he was working on a security project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and that they were preparing to launch in early July. The project is being run under the name Fortress, an Israeli company specializing in security and military training. “The company doesn’t have a website,” Ashurov explained in his messages, adding, “That’s not how a company works in this world.” He wasn’t prepared to reveal too much in writing and asked to have a voice call with me to explain the details.

Call with the butcher

And that's what we did. I made the phone call, and Ashurov spoke freely about the nature of his work. He revealed that he is one of three managers of Fortress, a company that oversees the training of special forces and regular battalions in the Congo. He indicated that the company's commander is Nir Yatom, a former officer in the Yatom special forces unit and the son of former Mossad chief and general, Danny Yatom.

The company offered me a monthly salary of 27,000 Israeli shekels, and Ashurov confirmed that he would be in the Congo with me to directly supervise operations. The projects include the so-called "Commando Project" and the "Panzer Project," which are part of a program to train Congolese forces to counter the M-23 insurgency.

F

During the investigation, we sought to get Nikolai Ashurov to confess his responsibility for the massacre that occurred while he was commanding the force in Rafah. During the conversation, we succeeded in extracting this confession. When he realized we had information about his role, he asked in surprise, "How did you know it was me?"

After we presented him with a convincing excuse, he made a decisive confession:

"It's all over and done with. Everything is for the best. Brother, the army isn't my career—I only came back because they asked me to. I work in security in Africa here and there. Everything will be fine." These words weren't just a personal justification; they opened a window into a broader network of Israeli security activities in Africa.

According to a report in Israel Hayom, Fortress – International Missions Ltd., where Ashurov is confirmed to be a director, is one of the most prominent Israeli security companies currently active on the continent. The former Mossad chief commented to the newspaper: “In my opinion, Nir will not want to talk to you, because this type of activity prefers to remain out of the spotlight.” The presence of Israeli military expertise in Africa is not new, but its scope and intensity have increased to unprecedented levels in recent years. According to the Africa Report platform, Israeli companies have played a key role in training Congolese army forces to confront the M-23 armed rebellion. President Felix Tshisekedi, who took office in 2019, has deepened this trend, using private Israeli companies not only to secure senior figures but also to train the Republican Guard—consistent with Ashurov’s description of the “commando” project he spoke about during the conversation.

This increased use of Israeli mercenaries and military experts has come at a steep financial cost, with reports indicating that hundreds of millions of dollars have been drained from the state treasury to finance these secret contracts. The concern has not gone unnoticed; it prompted Congolese financial authorities, represented by the Financial Investigation Unit (CENAREF), to open an official investigation last year into the scale and impact of these activities on the national economy.

Nikolai Ashurov was only one exposed link in an integrated system where Israeli war crimes in Gaza intersect with mercenary projects and security hegemony in the heart of Africa. From the devastated streets of Rafah to the tropical forests of the Congo, killers move with impunity, carrying with them a culture of impunity, cloaked behind private corporate fronts and supported by transnational political and military structures. While the world continues to turn a blind eye to the massacres committed against Palestinian civilians, the seeds of the coming catastrophe are being sown elsewhere in the forgotten world, where the same patterns of violence, corruption, and abuse are being repeated. Nikolai Ashurov's case is not an exception—it is the rule. Unless this shameful international silence is broken, the "Rafah massacre" will continue to recur, under different names and titles, but with the same impunity.