NAZA is a chilling, formally arresting documentary about the civilian toll of the Gaza war, built around 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence personnel. Its rooftop interviews give the film unusual access to insiders’ accounts of targeting and surveillance, but the obscured identities also make those accounts harder to verify. The result is important viewing—not because every allegation is settled, but because the film makes its claims and their limits impossible to ignore.
What is the NAZA documentary about?
Co-directed by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, both associated with the Oscar-winning No Other Land, NAZA examines the civilian cost of the Gaza war through testimony from 24 Israeli military and intelligence personnel. Abraham, an investigative journalist, conducts the interviews. The film draws on reporting published from 2023 to 2025 by +972 Magazine, Local Call and The Guardian, while presenting the interviewees’ accounts in a distinct cinematic form. Associated Press; BFI Sight and Sound
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The participants describe target selection, surveillance, AI-supported systems, strikes on homes and their own roles in military processes. Those descriptions are allegations and recollections voiced by interviewees, not independently established facts simply because they appear in a documentary. The film’s value lies partly in the access it offers to people who say they worked within those processes; evaluating what they say requires keeping attribution in view.
How do the anonymous interviews shape the film?
The interviews were filmed at night on Tel Aviv rooftops. Faces and voices are digitally obscured, leaving the speakers visually anonymous as they describe systems and decisions that they say connect military procedure to civilian harm. The setting and repetition create a cumulative, unsettling effect: the film’s drama comes less from conventional battlefield footage than from people recounting what they say they saw, did or understood.
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That same choice creates a central evidentiary tension. Anonymity may allow people to speak about sensitive or potentially consequential experiences, but it prevents viewers from assessing their identities, roles and firsthand access for themselves. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw calls the title “a queasy euphemism,” while also noting that the altered faces and voices limit the testimony’s impact. The Guardian
The film does not make that difficulty disappear; it makes it part of the viewing experience. As Sight and Sound quotes one anonymous interviewee, “Gaza becomes like a factory of targets.” Another says, “You feel a bit like God because you hear everything they say.” The lines are presented in the review as testimony from unidentified participants, not as independently corroborated descriptions of official policy. BFI Sight and Sound
What does NAZA mean?
Reviewers describe NAZA as a Hebrew military acronym derived from nezek agavi, meaning “collateral damage.” In the film’s account, it refers to a projected or approved number of civilian casualties associated with an attack on a target. The term and figures are presented through interviewees’ accounts; they should not be mistaken for a verified, universal rule or independently confirmed policy.
Sight and Sound describes an interviewee’s example of “20 NAZA.” NPR’s review, republished by KQED, reports that an interviewee claimed a figure of 500 for one high-value target. These are different reported examples, not a statistical measure of civilian deaths or proof that the same allowance applied across targets. BFI Sight and Sound; KQED, republishing NPR
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Why is the film’s account contested?
The controversy is not only about what the interviewees allege, but also about how viewers can assess testimony when the speakers’ identities are concealed and the film’s claims are presented through a documentary rather than a public record that viewers can independently inspect. The Israeli military categorically denied the filmmakers’ findings, according to the Associated Press. That denial is part of the public dispute; it does not, on its own, resolve the claims in either direction. Associated Press
The anonymity has drawn criticism from opposing directions. NPR’s Justin Chang, in a review carried by KQED, notes that some pro-Israel viewers argue it undermines the testimony, while some pro-Palestinian viewers object that it shields alleged perpetrators. Chang also observes that much of the reporting presented in the film had already appeared in journalism. The overlap gives the documentary context, but it does not mean that every claim made by every interviewee has been independently verified. KQED, republishing NPR
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Critics also disagree about the film’s framing. Sight and Sound emphasizes the cumulative force of the rooftop testimony and its link between procedural detail and civilian harm; The Atlantic argues that the framing can confirm viewers’ existing assumptions and keep them at a distance from the people and context of the war. The divide matters: NAZA is not an uncontested critical consensus, and “required viewing” is a judgment rather than a settled fact. BFI Sight and Sound; The Atlantic
Is NAZA worth watching?
For viewers interested in how military processes are described by people who say they participated in them—and in how documentaries shape testimony—the film is compelling and deeply disquieting. Its formal restraint and anonymous accounts can make the allegations feel immediate, but immediacy is not the same as proof. It is best approached as a forceful, contested account to consider alongside the reporting it builds on and the public denial of its findings.
Where can I watch NAZA?
The Associated Press reported that the film premiered at Venice and opened in US theaters in October 2026. A 25-minute standing ovation at Venice was also reported; that is a reception detail, not a measure of the film’s accuracy or quality. Associated Press
On October 9, El País reported that a free online release was expected in November 2026. That was a forward-looking report, not confirmation that the film is now available online. The sources cited here establish no physical edition, purchase option or verified streaming service. El País
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