NAZA exposes Israeli military systems behind mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza

No Other Land directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have unveiled NAZA, a new documentary exposing the systems and military practices that Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers say were used in the mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10, where it became the only documentary competing for the festival’s Golden Lion. Directed by Abraham and Szor, two of the four filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning No Other Land, NAZA is built around testimonies from 24 Israeli military and intelligence insiders who describe the mechanisms behind Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza.

The film’s title comes from a military acronym reportedly used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of Palestinian civilians expected to be killed in an airstrike. Rather than presenting civilian deaths as isolated mistakes, NAZA examines how civilian casualties could be incorporated into targeting decisions.

Several of the Israeli officers interviewed anonymously describe systems that allowed large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed alongside suspected Hamas targets. The film examines the use of artificial intelligence and surveillance technology to identify targets, including information obtained from hacked mobile phones.

According to the testimonies, Israeli intelligence systems could use small pieces of information from Palestinians’ phones to locate targets. One account describes a child’s phone registering the phrase “daddy’s home” as information that could contribute to an airstrike.

The documentary also details attacks on Palestinian homes where Israeli military personnel knew that family members were likely to be present. The testimonies describe strikes in which the deaths of civilians were anticipated rather than treated simply as unforeseeable consequences.

One officer describes the scale of the killing as being carried out on an “industrial scale”, while another discusses Palestinians being killed in areas that had been designated as no-go zones.

The film also addresses Palestinians seeking food. One Israeli intelligence officer describes civilians being killed near aid distribution sites and says residents were not necessarily informed about the locations of military-designated no-go zones.

“They have to learn with blood,” the officer says in the documentary, according to reporting on the film.

The accounts presented in NAZA go beyond individual soldiers and focus on the wider structures that made the attacks possible. Abraham and Szor have stressed that their film is not about a handful of soldiers acting outside military orders, but about policies, procedures, language and systems that enabled the killing of Palestinian civilians.

“We made this film out of a sense of obligation to use our position as Israeli film-makers and journalists to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which our country is responsible,” the directors said in their statement.

The filmmakers also explore the dehumanisation of Palestinians and the way the violence has been understood by those involved. Some of the Israeli officers interviewed reportedly compare what they witnessed in Gaza with historical examples of mass violence and discuss lessons associated with the Holocaust.

Szor said the testimonies also challenged assumptions about who was involved in the military campaign. Some of the officers interviewed came from elite Israeli units and described themselves as politically left-wing, despite their accounts of participating in operations that resulted in large numbers of Palestinian deaths.

The documentary was filmed at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv, contrasting the relative normality of life in the Israeli city with the devastation occurring in Gaza. The directors said the approach was intended to show how everyday life continued in Israel while Palestinians were experiencing widespread destruction and loss.

NAZA builds on investigations published by +972 Magazine, Local Call and The Guardian between 2023 and 2025. Those investigations examined Israeli military targeting practices and the use of technology and intelligence systems during the war in Gaza.

The film arrives as Israel’s military campaign in Gaza continues to face international scrutiny over the scale of Palestinian civilian deaths and destruction. Gaza health authorities have reported more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths since the war began, according to Reuters’ reporting on the documentary.

Abraham and Szor are hoping NAZA will help establish accountability for the people responsible for the destruction and deaths documented in the film. Abraham said he does not expect meaningful justice without international pressure, particularly from governments with close ties to Israel.

The documentary is produced by The Guardian and James Wilson, with Jonathan Glazer serving as executive producer. It follows No Other Land, which documented the destruction and displacement of Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2025.

With NAZA, Abraham and Szor shift their focus from the destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank to the military systems operating over Gaza, connecting individual testimonies to a broader picture of how mass civilian killing was enabled and carried out.