Documentary 'NAZA' Wins Venice Jury Prize Amid IDF Rejection

The documentary NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. The film presents testimony from 24 Israeli military officers who describe alleged protocols for targeting civilians in Gaza, a system the directors say is referred to by the military as “NAZA.”

Abraham and Szor, who previously co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, filmed the interviews covertly over three years, using visual effects to conceal the participants' identities. The filmmakers said the officers disclosed practices such as hacking a 12-year-old girl's phone to locate her father and ordering a bombing that killed his family, and using snipers against civilians fleeing to food distribution sites.

"The IDF categorically rejects the film’s allegations and said the anonymous testimonies cannot be verified," a statement from the Israel Defence Forces read.

The directors emphasized that the film builds on investigative work conducted with The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call between 2023 and 2025. Abraham said the process of locating willing officers took months or years, and that participants expressed a range of motives for speaking, including a sense of responsibility and the desire to reach Israeli audiences.

Executive producer Jonathan Glazer, known for The Zone of Interest, joined the project after meeting the directors during their previous film. The filmmakers hope the documentary will be shown widely in Israel, the United States and Germany, though they have not yet secured a distributor in Israel.

The IDF reiterated that its operations target military objectives and that it makes “unprecedented efforts to minimize harm to civilians.” The filmmakers contend that the film provides insider evidence of systemic practices that result in civilian casualties.