'The tragic consequences of war do not justify distorting the facts,' IDF lambasts 'NAZA' film in detailed response
In a detailed rebuttal to the documentary "NAZA," the IDF said the film relies on anonymous, uncorroborated testimony from junior intelligence personnel to mischaracterize the IDF's strike process
The IDF published a formal response to the documentary "NAZA," saying it presents "a distorted, misleading, and disingenuous picture" of the military's target planning and strike process. The IDF said the film's narrative relies on testimony from anonymous individuals who generally describe only the initial, intelligence-gathering stages of a much longer targeting process, resulting in what it called "an incorrect and highly misleading description of reality."
The military noted that "NAZA" is the Hebrew acronym for "collateral damage," a standard term used by law-abiding militaries worldwide. It points out that the film paradoxically presents the IDF's detailed civilian harm estimation process as evidence of indifference to civilian life, when such assessments are in fact required under international law.
The IDF said the filmmakers did not submit their allegations for examination before publication and declined to provide the IDF a copy of the film after a public screening, despite the military's request. As a result, the IDF said it based its response on an account from a representative who attended a public screening, along with other public reporting and statements from the filmmakers themselves.
The IDF argued that the anonymous interviewees spoke about matters beyond their knowledge and competence, and testimony confined to preliminary stages does not establish the final assessments on which commanders relied. For example, an interviewee may recall a general, preliminary estimate of civilians present in an area around a military objective, but did not account for precautions decided later in the process.
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Additionally, the IDF claimed that besides the anonymous accounts, the film did not cite any military directives, contemporaneous records, or other corroborating evidence. The film's accounts of alleged strikes include no specific targets, dates, locations, or casualty figures, making the claims "general and unverifiable," the IDF claims.
Among the specific claims addressed, the IDF denied that artificial intelligence autonomously generated tens of thousands of human targets that were then struck, stating flatly that "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." The military said human analysts identify targets under defined procedures, with decisions ultimately made by operational commanders.
Regarding allegations that soldiers fired on civilians near humanitarian aid distribution sites, the IDF said rules of engagement permitted fire only against armed operatives or suspects posing an immediate threat.
The IDF strongly rejected the film's suggestion that an interviewee's personal view constituted evidence of genocide, calling the allegation "outrageous and unfounded." It noted that genocide under international law requires specific intent to destroy a group, which it said, "never existed."
The military said its objectives in Gaza were to dismantle Hamas's military and governing capabilities and secure the return of hostages, not to harm Palestinian civilians. The IDF pointed to its warnings, strike cancellations, and facilitation of humanitarian aid, including more than 3.9 million metric tons of food delivered into Gaza since October 2023, as evidence against the claim.
The IDF said the film omits essential context necessary to understand its conduct during the war, including the October 7 massacre and Hamas's systematic embedding of military infrastructure within civilian areas such as hospitals, schools and mosques. It said the film's narrative is reinforced through "manipulative editing of interviews" and omits the professionals, including legal advisers and commanders, responsible for mitigating civilian harm throughout the targeting process.
"The tragic consequences of war do not justify distorting the facts," the IDF said, adding that "the IDF has acted and continues to act humanely, even if the filmmakers have done everything they can to conceal that fact."