“I’d hear the final moments of a person’s life.” The Israeli military insider pauses.

He is composed and soft-spoken, seated on a darkened rooftop against the night sky. His face and voice are digitally altered — protected by anonymity.

“What did you hear inside a home?” the journalist asks.

“Sounds of normal life,” he responds. “A prayer, the TV, a baby, a husband and wife talking.”

By this point in the film, we’ve learned about the Night Location project, in which the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) hack into the phones of Palestinian civilians they suspect of being Hamas operatives. They’re easiest to target in their homes at night, the insider explains.

“How could you bomb when you hear a baby inside?”

Another pause. “The goal is to destroy.”

This exchange is one of many in NAZA, a new investigative documentary by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, two of the co-directors of the Oscar-winning No Other Land.

Produced by The Guardian and JW Films, the film features interviews with 24 anonymous Israeli intelligence officers and military personnel, filmed in Tel Aviv. They describe how artificial intelligence and automated surveillance were used as military tactics to shape the targeting of Palestinians in Gaza after Oct. 7, 2023.

Its title, NAZA, comes from a Hebrew military acronym for nezek agavi, or “collateral damage.” The term is used as a euphemism by the military for the number of civilians expected to be killed in a strike.

After its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival in September, NAZA won the Special Jury Prize and received a record-breaking standing ovation. This month, it began screening at select Canadian venues like Hot Docs in Toronto and the Cinémathèque québécoise in........

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