The documentary NAZA opens in UK cinemas on 16 October 2026.
The film NAZA accuses them of killing civilians by design. This is their answer.
NAZA is the Gaza documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, produced by The Guardian and awarded at the Venice Film Festival. It rests on 24 anonymous voices. On 1 October the IDF answered in writing, claim by claim.
IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip, February 2024. Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit, CC BY-SA 3.0Watch Naza: The Real Story, free
Naza: The Real Story is the 49-minute Israeli documentary made in answer to NAZA. Senior IDF commanders and intelligence officers sit on Tel Aviv rooftops and describe the war as they fought it. It is free to watch, with subtitles in 39 languages.
What the film says, and what the IDF answers
Five of the film's claims, each with Israel's response to NAZA: the IDF's written reply of 1 October 2026, quoted in its own words. Open one to read it.
A strike was approved with 500 civilians expected to die.See the answer
“The IDF has never planned, approved or carried out a strike in Gaza in which 500 civilians, or anything close to that number, were expected to be killed.”
There were quotas: 20 civilians for a junior operative, 200 for a commander.See the answer
“IDF regulations have never granted automatic authorization for strikes against targets that place a fixed number of civilians at risk.” A threshold decides only who has authority to approve a strike. A threshold of 200 has never “applied or existed”.
Artificial intelligence chose who to strike.See the answer
“In the IDF, artificial intelligence does not determine whether an object or a person is designated as a target, nor whether a target is struck.”
Lavender was a list of people marked for death.See the answer
“‘Lavender’ is not a list of targets approved to strike.” Being listed in it “does not identify that person as a target, let alone authorize a strike against him.”
Once an area was told to leave, anyone who stayed was a target.See the answer
“IDF directives make clear that a warning does not permit civilian presence to be ignored when deciding on a strike and does not by itself authorize a strike.”
What the film leaves out
The IDF says NAZA does not give due weight to how the war began, or to how Hamas fights it.
The day the war began
Terrorists crossed the fence in 114 places and attacked kibbutzim, towns and a music festival.
Read about 7 OctoberA building in Kibbutz Be'eri, 11 October 2023. Photo: Kobi Gideon, Government Press Office of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0
“These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes.”
A Hamas leader on who the tunnels are for. Gaza's civilians, he said, are the UN's responsibility.
Read Hamas in its own wordsA tunnel shaft found by IDF troops in Gaza, February 2024. Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit, CC BY-SA 3.0What Hamas said about the film
On 15 September 2026, five days after NAZA premiered in Venice, Hamas put out a press statement about the film. It called on the International Criminal Court, UN bodies and human rights organisations to document the film's testimonies and use them in their investigations. The Egyptian news site Masrawy ran it under the headline: Hamas praises the film NAZA (translated from Arabic). The statement ends like this:
ما كشفه «نازا» يجب ألا يبقى مجرد مادة للمشاهدة والتعاطف، بل ينبغي أن يتحول إلى دافع إضافي للتحقيق والمحاسبة، وإنصاف الضحايا، وضمان عدم إفلات المسؤولين عن جرائم الحرب، والإبادة الجماعية والانتهاكات من المساءلة.
What NAZA revealed must not remain mere material for viewing and sympathy. It should become a further motive for investigation and accountability, for justice for the victims, and for making sure that those responsible for war crimes, genocide and violations do not escape accountability.
Translation from the Arabic by this site
Hamas press statement, 15 September 2026, as carried by Quds Press (in Sawaleif) and Masrawy.
Hamas asked the court in The Hague to use the film. The IDF answered the film claim by claim. Read the nine answers
7 October 2023
More than 370 of the dead were killed at the Nova music festival. The photograph shows a roadside shelter at the site, turned into a memorial by the families.
Memorial inside a roadside shelter at the Nova festival site, September 2024. Photo: Shlomo Roded, PikiWiki Israel, CC BY 2.5The hostages tell it themselves
On 7 October 2023 terrorists took 251 people from Israel into Gaza. Ten of those who came back tell what happened to them, on video.
anonymous interviewees, filmed at night on Tel Aviv rooftops
Who is speaking in the film
NAZA rests on 24 anonymous interviewees, filmed at night on Tel Aviv rooftops with their faces and voices altered. The IDF says their accounts “generally focus on limited, initial stages dealing with intelligence”, and that the film omits the operational planners, legal advisers and commanders who approve or reject strikes. The Guardian, one of the film's producers, says the group includes officers involved in several stages of targeting.
The IDF also says the filmmakers did not send it their allegations for a response before release.
What does “naza” mean?
Naza (נז״א) is the Hebrew military acronym for nezek agavi, collateral damage: harm to civilians caused by a strike on a military target. The IDF calls it “a professional term commonly used by every law-abiding military worldwide”. The film takes the word as its title and its accusation.