Venice film spotlights Israeli AI‑driven Gaza killings
Investigative journalists present a film where Israeli troops describe how AI and mass surveillance were used in Gaza, raising fresh scrutiny of the war.
Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have premiered their three‑year investigation, the documentary “NAZA”, at the Venice Film Festival. The film features 24 current or former members of the Israeli military and intelligence community who speak on camera from Tel Aviv under guaranteed anonymity. Their testimony links Israel’s surveillance of Gaza’s telecoms network with artificial‑intelligence tools used to identify and target individuals.
We are letting the soldiers and the officers speak about what they did," Abraham told reporters.
The project matters because it provides, for the first time, recorded accounts from inside the Israeli apparatus about how technology is deployed in an active conflict. If the claims hold, they could reshape international debate over the legality of AI‑enabled warfare and add pressure on governments that continue to fund or arm Israel.
Inside the documentary
“NAZA”, a term used by Israeli intelligence to denote the expected civilian death toll of a strike, follows a structured interview format. Soldiers describe how the entire Gaza telecoms grid is monitored in real time, how facial‑recognition algorithms flag individuals, and how those lists are fed into weapon systems. The filmmakers, produced by Jim Wilson with assistance from Jonathan Glazer and the The Guardian, say the aim was “to hear in as much detail as possible how the systems of killing in Gaza looked like, how they operated.”
The documentary also references the United Nations assessment that the conflict has caused roughly 73,500 Palestinian deaths and 174,500 injuries, figures supplied by the Gaza's Hamas‑run health ministry. Israel maintains it does not deliberately target civilians, blaming Hamas for embedding fighters among the population.
International reaction
Both Abraham and Szor, who won an Oscar in 2025 for “No Other Land”, hope the film will prompt Western nations to reconsider their support for Israel. They cite the need for sanctions and diplomatic pressure. Susan Sarandon recently remarked that public awareness of the war’s realities has “completely changed”, echoing a broader cultural shift.
The Committee to Protect Journalists notes that more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the conflict began, describing it as the deadliest campaign against reporters in its history. The film’s release coincides with other Gaza‑focused works at Venice, such as “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, signalling a growing appetite for scrutiny.
Analysts suggest that the documentary could influence policy discussions in Europe and the United States, especially as lawmakers weigh the ethics of exporting AI‑enabled surveillance tools. For further context on the broader debate over AI in conflict, see AI's role in modern warfare.
Looking ahead, the film may become a reference point in legal and diplomatic forums assessing whether Israel’s actions breach the 1948 Genocide Convention, a claim Abraham says is supported by the evidence presented. Whether “NAZA” will translate into concrete policy shifts remains to be seen, but its presence at a major festival ensures the conversation will stay in the public eye.
