NAZA brings anonymous testimony from Gaza war to Venice

NAZA, a documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, has been reviewed by The Guardian Culture at the Venice Film Festival. The film features anonymous Israeli intelligence personnel discussing the conduct of Israel’s war in Gaza, including alleged AI-assisted targeting systems and projected civilian casualties.

The interviewees, whose faces and voices are digitally altered, allege that computer analysis of phone patterns is used to identify suspected Hamas operatives and inform strikes. They also refer to a reported 15 per cent permitted error rate and an expected “Naza” rate of 20 deaths per action. The term is presented in the film as an alleged military euphemism for projected civilian deaths or collateral damage.

The documentary’s participants further discuss alleged operations including the clearing of northern Gaza and sniper attacks on civilians seeking food. One section concerns an intelligence unit allegedly linked personally to Benjamin Netanyahu and accused of undermining international human rights bodies.

These claims come from anonymous participants and are not independently substantiated in the supplied material. The Guardian review notes that anonymity may lessen the force of the testimony, while also describing the film as a stark examination of the war’s human cost.

Produced under Guardian auspices and executive produced by Jonathan Glazer and James Wilson, NAZA reunites Abraham and Szor, who previously worked on No Other Land, about attacks on Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.