Who decides how many civilians may die? The question NAZA puts to Israel
What if the most disturbing thing about a war is not the bomb, but the number entered before the bomb is dropped? NAZA, the Israeli documentary that won Venice's Special Jury Prize, forces that question through testimony from Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers who describe a military system in which civilian deaths could allegedly be anticipated, calculated and approved alongside a target.
What happens when an army knows there are children inside a house, calculates how many civilians may die in the strike, and still authorises the bombing?
That is the question at the centre of NAZA, the Israeli documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor that has become one of the most politically explosive films at the 2026 Venice Film Festival. It does not investigate Gaza through satellite images or testimony from Palestinian survivors alone. Its central witnesses are 24 Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers who describe, anonymously, the systems they say they operated during the war.
The 80-minute documentary, produced by The Guardian and JW Films, was filmed over three years, largely at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv. Its title comes from an Israeli military term for anticipated collateral casualties — civilians expected to be killed alongside a military target. The film's official Venice synopsis describes it as an examination of the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians.
What do the testimonies allege?
According to the film's reporting and the accounts published around its release, Israeli intelligence personnel describe a targeting system in which suspected Hamas operatives could be located through surveillance and phone data, with their homes subsequently treated as targets. The witnesses allege that commanders knew families could be inside those buildings when strikes were approved.
One of the most disturbing accounts concerns the calculation of civilian deaths itself. Interviewees describe a system in which anticipated civilian casualties could be factored into the decision to strike. One account cited in reporting describes approval for an operation against a single Hamas target despite the expectation that as many as 500 civilians could be killed. Another describes the targeting of entire floors when surveillance indicated that families were present.
The film also examines the use of artificial-intelligence-assisted intelligence systems. The filmmakers connect these technologies to a wider process of identifying targets at scale. Their argument is not simply that technology made mistakes, but that technology became embedded in a human chain of surveillance, target selection, authorisation and bombing.
The Israeli military rejects that interpretation.
The IDF says the film distorts conventional military calculations of proportionality and collateral damage. It maintains that Israel targets military operatives and objectives, considers the expected military advantage against anticipated civilian harm, and requires human review before strikes. It has also rejected the film's central allegation that Israel maintains a policy of deliberately killing civilians.
That distinction matters. NAZA's testimonies are allegations from anonymous sources; the documentary itself is not a judicial finding of criminal liability.
But the film has now produced a second story — inside Israel.
After its Venice premiere, NAZA received a roughly 25-minute standing ovation and subsequently won the Special Jury Prize. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it shocking incitement and accused it of contributing to global antisemitism. Military chief Eyal Zamir described its allegations as blood libels and 'deliberate distortions', while ordering examination of possible legal measures against the film and those involved. Culture Minister Miki Zohar asked authorities to investigate whether obtaining or publishing the material could amount to aiding the enemy and sought consideration of revoking the filmmakers' citizenship over alleged treason.
And that is where NAZA becomes larger than a film controversy.
Its directors are Israelis. Its sources are Israelis. Its subject is the Israeli military system. The filmmakers say they made the documentary partly for Israeli society, to confront what they describe as their country's responsibility for civilian deaths in Gaza.
The central question, therefore, is no longer only whether the allegations in NAZA can withstand scrutiny.
It is also what happens when documenting alleged violence by one's own state is treated not as dissent, but as disloyalty.
NAZA puts the machinery of war on trial in the court of public opinion: the target, the algorithm, the anticipated casualty figure — and finally, the human being who knew there were children inside.
