NAZA review: anonymous Israeli officers expose Gaza's civilian death calculus

The Israeli military reportedly has a name for projected civilian deaths from a strike: "Naza". A new documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor examines that calculation, and it is one of the most disquieting films of the year.

NAZA is executive produced by Jonathan Glazer and James Wilson, the team behind The Zone of Interest, and appears under the production auspices of the Guardian. Some of the stories featured in the film have already run in the paper. Abraham and Szor were two of the film-makers behind No Other Land, the documentary about Israel Defense Forces attacks on Palestinian villages in the West Bank, which the Guardian reviewed in November 2024.

What is "Naza"?

According to the film, "Naza" is the term Israel's military chiefs in Gaza reputedly use for civilian collateral damage — itself, as the source review notes, a queasy euphemism. The calculated Naza number is the amount of projected civilian deaths from each military strike. The review suggests it may come to carry the same connotations as the US military's "body count" did during Vietnam.

Who speaks, and does anonymity weaken the film?

The interviews were conducted under the cover of night with anonymous personnel — Israeli intelligence officers — who discuss AI systems, error rates and what the film identifies as problematic intelligence units.

The anonymity cuts both ways. If no one can be persuaded to put their name and face to their words — and, as the review concedes, doing so would be terribly dangerous — then the impact of the material as testimony is lessened. That is the film's central flaw, and it is a serious one for a work that positions itself as evidence.

What does this change for audiences?

The film still casts what the review calls a chilling light on what is happening now in Gaza. Glazer's involvement as executive producer, following his outspoken Oscar speech on Israel and Gaza in 2024, will draw attention from art-house audiences who might not otherwise seek out a documentary built on anonymised testimony.

The practical question for viewers is whether anonymity undermines credibility. The review's answer is measured: the flaw is real, but the film remains a rare window into how strike decisions are priced in human lives.

Whether "Naza" enters the lexicon as Vietnam's "body count" did depends less on the film than on what continues to happen in Gaza — and on whether any of its anonymous voices eventually step forward.