"NAZA," an award-winning documentary, remains a subject of ongoing debate within Israel. The film received a 25-minute standing ovation at its Venice International Film Festival premiere in mid-September and took home the Special Jury Prize, while the armed forces subsequently released a lengthy document contesting the accuracy of its portrayal.
The documentary has drawn notable discussion across Israeli society. Miri Regev, who holds the Culture Ministry portfolio, described the films made by Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham as a betrayal of the state and called for both filmmakers to lose their citizenship. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's objections to the documentary were also made known through pointed public remarks directed at its content.
A formal denial of the documentary's claims about battlefield conduct in Gaza was issued by the Israel Defense Forces. In a lengthy written response, the armed forces contend that the filmmakers put forward a portrayal they characterise as warped, misleading, and lacking in good faith, with the document further asserting that the work rests on what it describes as substantial factual inaccuracies rooted in deliberate misrepresentation of events — allegations directed at an 80-minute film that examines military operations conducted during the conflict in Gaza.
Drawn from conversations with 24 military and intelligence personnel who spoke on condition of anonymity, the documentary details the internal procedures and decision-making frameworks through which targets in the Gaza Strip were chosen. Those interviewed said that projected numbers of civilian deaths were, in certain instances, knowingly built into the calculus behind those choices.
Those allegations were not accepted as accurate by the IDF. The organisation maintains that operations resulting in anticipated civilian casualties numbering in the hundreds have never formed part of its planning or execution. The IDF's counter-argument holds that human judgment has remained part of every targeting and attack decision, pushing back on the documentary's portrayal of artificial intelligence operating without any such oversight.
Separate allegations from the armed forces point to what they describe as the omission of material facts by those behind the production. The military body's statement pointed to what it described as the documentary's omission of the oversight processes carried out by legal advisors and commanders before strikes are approved, along with the precautions it says are taken to limit harm to civilians.
A separate objection raised in the IDF's response contends that the film falls short in its treatment of the Hamas-led assault on Israel on 7 October 2023 — an attack that left more than 1,200 people dead and saw roughly 250 others taken captive.
Formal allegations of genocide tied to military operations in Gaza have been lodged by a UN commission alongside multiple human rights bodies. Figures compiled by Gaza health authorities and corroborated by additional sources put the Palestinian death toll since the outbreak of hostilities at a minimum of 74,000.
At the Venice awards ceremony in mid-September, co-director Yuval Abraham argued that refusing to acknowledge a crime allows it to continue. Szor and Abraham also contributed to "No Other Land," a documentary that took home the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2025 ceremony.
"NAZA" draws its title from the Hebrew phrase "Nezek Agavi," the term used for collateral damage. In the documentary, a service member explains that the abbreviation functions as an internal military term denoting a projected count of non-combatants who might lose their lives in a given strike.
A range of human rights bodies — B'Tselem among them — have put their backing behind the filmmakers. Having debuted at the Venice Film Festival, "NAZA" has since opened to audiences at cinemas around the globe.
