The Israeli Army has described as "totally false" that its troops designed and executed an offensive in the Gaza Strip in which the death of around 500 civilians was planned in advance, following the dissemination this Sunday on social media of a fragment of "NAZA" —the new documentary by the filmmakers of "No Other Land," Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor— in which an Israeli soldier, under anonymity, holds that version.
"This is totally false. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have never planned, approved, or carried out an attack in Gaza in which the death of 500 civilians or even a number close to that figure was anticipated," the Army itself declared on social media, referring to the publication by a user of an excerpt from "NAZA" in which a soldier describes that attack.
The statement adds that "no credible claim has been made throughout the war suggesting that an IDF attack has caused a death toll even close to that figure," and criticizes that the filmmakers "had no way to verify this claim, there is no real evidence to support it and, nevertheless, they published it."
"Furthermore, no data about the interviewee can be independently verified or checked, neither their service nor their role," the Israeli Army argued regarding the documentary, based on testimonies from soldiers who speak under the condition of anonymity to report the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in attacks on the population of the Gaza Strip.
"No attack of that kind was ever planned, approved, or carried out, and yet, this is the claim that the filmmakers have chosen to promote their film. Judge the rest accordingly," the military institution emphasized.
In the scene pointed out by the IDF, an Israeli soldier explains how the interface of "NAZA" operates, the AI that gives its name to the documentary and whose term comes from the Hebrew military acronym "nezek agavi," used by Israeli forces to estimate how many civilians could die as collateral damage in a bombing.
While drawing in a notebook the outline of the system, the military man assures that it makes "no distinction" between minors and adults and that "some bombings have killed 20, 30, and even 300 people." Next, when asked about the deadliest attack, he responds that he does not know "how many actually died, because it was never assessed, but there was approval once to kill 500."
The documentary, produced by "The Guardian," competes for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, where it has made a strong impact on the audience. After its screening, attendees dedicated nearly 25 minutes of applause to the directors, the longest ovation recorded to date at the event.
In its 80 minutes of footage, "NAZA" examines Israel's campaign of systematic attacks on the Palestinian enclave through the testimonies of 24 intelligence officers and soldiers, who detail methods of phone espionage and artificial intelligence systems used to select targets. According to the complaint of its creators, this framework would operate as a large-scale mechanism that deliberately causes the death of hundreds of civilians considered collateral damage in a single offensive.