Gaza documentary NAZA tops Italian box office in breakout debut

The Gaza war documentary NAZA topped the Italian box office on its first two days in theaters, with total ticket sales reaching nearly €1.1 million ($1.24 million) by Tuesday, the Italian box office tracker Cinetel said Wednesday.

The film opened at No. 1 on Monday with €451,872 in ticket sales and 60,467 admissions, more than twice the €179,612 earned by the "Avengers: Endgame" re-release that day, Cinetel figures showed.

It remained in first place Tuesday, taking another €623,164 and drawing more than 83,000 viewers. The film has grossed €1,096,816 cumulatively, drawing 146,720 admissions.

NAZA was initially released as a three-day cinema event from Sept. 28-30 in 515 theaters across Italy, many of them sold out. Screenings are continuing beyond the initial run following strong demand.

Directed by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the documentary examines the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza through testimony from Israeli military and intelligence personnel.

Secretly filmed over three years on rooftops in Tel Aviv, it features testimony from 24 Israeli military and intelligence insiders whose identities, voices and appearances were digitally altered for protection.

Israeli military personnel featured in the film describe systems used to identify, track and strike targets despite expected civilian casualties. Some said they witnessed residential areas used as shelters being set ablaze and Palestinians being killed during food distribution in Gaza.

The film takes its name from NAZA, an abbreviation used by Israel's military intelligence agency Aman to denote the number of civilians expected to be killed in an airstrike.

NAZA recently won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival after receiving a standing ovation lasting about 25 minutes at its premiere.

The documentary has also drawn backlash from Israeli officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that he would push legislation targeting those who "defame" Israeli soldiers following the film's screening.