NAZA film presented in Venice with claims of civilian casualties in Gaza
At the Venice Film Festival in Italy, the Israeli documentary NAZA by journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor was presented. Anonymous intelligence officers and soldiers who took part in the film said that Israeli military decisions on targets in the Gaza Strip took into account a significant number of possible civilian casualties.
The Jerusalem Post reported on the premiere and the film's content. According to the authors, the title NAZA comes from an Israeli military term for expected “collateral damage.” One anonymous participant in the film described what he saw as “mass killings on an industrial scale.”
Statements by the film’s participants
The officers who testified to the filmmakers spoke about an artificial intelligence-based target identification system. According to them, it used data obtained from thousands of hacked mobile phones. They also claimed that the phrase “dad is home,” recorded on a child’s phone, could be sufficient grounds for carrying out an airstrike.
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The film’s participants also said that civilians were killed in areas to which Israel had barred access, including near humanitarian aid distribution centers. One officer said that residents were not informed of the locations of such zones. The UN reported last year that more than 400 Palestinians were killed while trying to obtain aid. Israel acknowledged that civilians were harmed near distribution points and said it had changed its rules on the use of force.
Israel’s position
Israel says it makes significant efforts to avoid civilian casualties and that Hamas uses civilians as human shields in densely populated areas. Hamas denies this. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately provide Reuters with a comment on the film.
Interviews for NAZA were filmed at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv, while footage of destruction in Gaza is shown only at the end. The directors explained that they sought to emphasize the contrast between everyday life in Tel Aviv and the destruction about 60 kilometers from the city. The film is among 21 pictures competing for the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion.
