By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies
Testimonies from 24 "Israeli" military and intelligence insiders have revealed details of the systems, policies, and surveillance methods they say were used in Gaza, including AI-assisted targeting and strikes carried out despite anticipating the loss of entire families.
The revelations feature in NAZA, a documentary by Oscar-winning "Israeli" filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor that premiered Thursday at the Venice International Film Festival. Produced by The Guardian, the film takes its title from an “Israeli” military acronym for civilians expected to be killed in an attack and examines how intelligence gathering, automated targeting, and predetermined civilian casualty estimates shaped aggression in Gaza.
The interviewees, including intelligence officers and soldiers involved in surveillance and remote targeting, were filmed anonymously at night on "Tel Aviv" rooftops, with their faces and voices digitally altered.
According to their testimonies, "Israeli" occupation forces [IOF] used AI systems to identify large numbers of suspected low-ranking Hamas members and often targeted them in their homes at night despite knowing family members could also be killed.
The film also describes Palestinians’ phones being hacked to track their locations and conversations with relatives monitored shortly before strikes.
Other insiders recount neighborhoods being destroyed even when forces estimated that up to 25% of residents remained inside, as well as the systematic burning of Palestinian homes and the killing of civilians at a food distribution site.
The filmmakers said the documentary focuses on the broader military system rather than isolated actions by individual soldiers, examining its orders, policies, accepted practices, and mechanisms. Several interviewees reportedly worked in a secret intelligence unit answering directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, with one saying its mission was to “thwart peace.”
NAZA builds on investigations published between 2023 and 2025 by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian into AI-assisted targeting and mass surveillance. The Guardian’s Paul Lewis described it as the culmination of years of work to uncover and verify the systems used by "Israeli" military intelligence in Gaza.
Venice festival artistic director Alberto Barbera called the film “truly groundbreaking” and “politically disruptive,” while its screening reportedly drew a nearly 25-minute standing ovation, with some audience members raising Palestinian flags.
The documentary was co-produced by James Wilson and executive produced by Jonathan Glazer. Abraham and Szor also directed No Other Land, which won the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary. They said NAZA, like their earlier film, seeks to connect individual testimonies and incidents to a broader system of occupation, adding that UN and human rights bodies have described the Gaza campaign as genocide.
Since October 2023, "Israeli" attacks on Gaza have claimed the lives of more than 73,000 Palestinians and wounded over 174,000, while destroying or damaging most homes and civilian infrastructure across the Strip.
No comments:
Post a Comment