IDF spokesman disputes Ketziot documentary accuracy

What happened

• The IDF Spokesperson's Unit published a detailed, point-by-point rebuttal on Thursday to the documentary "NAZA," saying the film gives a distorted and misleading account of how the military plans and approves strikes in Gaza.JNS.orgwww.israelhayom.comynetHaaretzMaariv
• The film, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, draws on anonymous testimony from 24 Israeli military and intelligence personnel who allege the IDF tolerated or deliberately caused large numbers of civilian deaths, according to JNS and Ynet.JNS.orgynet
• The military denied ever planning a strike expected to kill around 500 civilians, rejected the existence of automatic approval thresholds such as 20 or 200 civilians per target, and said artificial intelligence has never independently chosen targets, describing the "Lavender" system as an aid to intelligence analysts rather than an approved target list.JNS.orgwww.israelhayom.comjpost.comynet
• The IDF argued the interviewees knew only early intelligence stages of the process and that the film left out operational planners, legal advisers, civilian-harm specialists and the commanders who approve or cancel strikes, while also omitting the Oct. 7 attack and Hamas's use of civilian areas.JNS.orgwww.israelhayom.comjpost.comynet
• The military said its response came late because the filmmakers neither sought comment before release nor provided a copy of the film afterwards, with the Jerusalem Post reporting it could only reply in detail once it had seen the movie.jpost.comJNS.orgwww.israelhayom.comynet

Why it matters

The exchange moves a dispute over Israel's targeting methods in Gaza from anonymous testimony on screen to an official, itemized military account, giving both critics and defenders a documented record to argue over.JNS.orgjpost.com