Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Sunday for an investigation into the anonymous sources featured in the award-winning Gaza war documentary "NAZA".
The film is based on testimony from 24 unnamed Israeli military whistleblowers who accuse the army of killing scores of civilians in Gaza with the use of AI-powered targeting systems.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening asked the chief of staff of the Israeli army, the head of the Shin Bet (domestic intelligence), and the state attorney to open a thorough investigation targeting the participants in the film 'NAZA' and to prosecute them," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
"NAZA" takes its name from the Israeli military term for civilian casualties expected in airstrikes, an abbreviated form of the Hebrew phrase for "collateral damage".
Awarded a special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival, the film received a historic 25-minute standing ovation. The film has received praise around the world for revealing the extent of Israel's atrocities in Gaza, but has triggered a political storm in Israel.
"This film tells a false, misleading and biased story that defames the State of Israel and the army around the world," Netanyahu said, according to the statement.
He has previously declared his intention to back legislation to strip citizenship from people who "defame" soldiers.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza, determined to be a genocide by scholars and rights groups, has killed more than 74,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry.
The war on Gaza has also devastated the enclave's healthcare system, displaced the majority of the population and levelled entire neighbourhoods.
