Venice Film Festival doc 'NAZA' draws 25-minute ovation as Israeli whistleblowers detail Gaza air campaign

Festival premiere in Venice

The documentary "NAZA", directed by Israeli investigative journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, received a 25-minute standing ovation at its world premiere at the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Thursday evening, 10 September 2026. The duration, while reported by some outlets as 24 minutes, surpassed the 24-minute applause recorded at Venice the previous year for "The Voice of Hind Rajab". Audience members unrolled Palestinian flags in the festival hall following the screening, while Abraham and Szor remained on stage alongside executive producer Jonathan Glazer. The film was admitted to the main competition on short notice and is competing against 20 other entries, including South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong's "Possible Love", for the Golden Lion.

Whistleblower testimonies on military AI

The production centers on a minimalist format filmed on Tel Aviv rooftops, where two chairs and a single camera recorded 24 anonymous Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers over several nights. The interviewees describe the use of artificial intelligence software that mapped entire residential blocks across Gaza, cataloguing the occupants of every household. According to the testimonies, strike commanders operated with an authorized error margin of 15% and approved collateral casualties of up to 500 civilians for a single targeted operative. The witnesses reported tapping the mobile phones of targets, their wives, and children, while executing bombings at night in private homes rather than military sites. Several accounts detailed soldiers treating strikes like a video game, shooting civilians near food distribution points, and seeing dogs feed at mass graves.

“It was surprising how many people, in their conversations, made reference to the Holocaust.”

Production origins and investigative context

The project originated from investigative reporting previously published by the British newspaper The Guardian and the Israeli-Palestinian magazine +972 Magazine. Abraham and Szor, who formed part of the collective behind the Oscar-winning 2024 documentary "No Other Land", collaborated with The Guardian as a coproduction partner. Producer Paul Wilson, who won the Silver Lion in Venice in 2025, noted that the film was completed shortly before the festival because of extensive digital processes required to anonymize the military personnel. At a press conference on Friday, 11 September 2026, the directors discussed the importance of presenting direct verbal accounts from the operatives who designed and ran the targeting systems.

“It is important to state that part of what you see in the film is already known. But it was necessary to also capture these testimonies in a film. It feels different when you also hear the people who worked with this system, and designed it, speak.”

Military response and release schedule

The Israeli military released an official statement on Friday, 11 September 2026, categorically rejecting the allegations presented in the documentary and challenging the reliability of anonymous sources. The armed forces stated that their operations target only members of militant organisations, asserting that they undertake extensive measures to limit civilian casualties during combat in Gaza. The film's premiere occurred as the reported death toll in Gaza exceeded 73,000 Palestinians since the military campaign began following the 7 October 2023 attack. Following its festival screening, "NAZA" is scheduled for theatrical release in Germany on 1 October 2026, with screenings in Dutch cinemas also scheduled for October.

The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025)24

NAZA (2026)25

The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025)

24 minutes

NAZA (2026)

25 minutes

Data from the article text