On April 10, the Italian magazine L'Espresso appeared with a cover depicting an armed Israeli in military clothing facing a Palestinian woman. The headline read—“Violence.”
Israel's ambassador to Italy, Jonathan Peled, said the cover was “manipulative” and “promotes stereotypes and hatred.” He also cast doubt on the photograph's authenticity, suggesting it may have been edited or artificially generated.
Photographer Pietro Masturzo pushed back on that claim in his Instagram post: “NO, the photograph is not the product of artificial intelligence.” He said the image was taken on October 12, 2025, in the Idhna area near Hebron during the olive harvest. Masturzo said that on that day, settlers and soldiers were preventing Palestinians from reaching their land. The man's gesture in the photograph, the photographer said, mimicked the way a shepherd drives livestock.
L'annessione della Cisgiordania, con i soldati complici dei coloni. Gaza annientata. L'avanzata in Libano. Il confine violato in Siria. La guerra all'Iran. Pulizia etnica e massacri. Così la destra sionista dà forma al Grande Israele
— L'Espresso (@espressonline) April 13, 2026
Il numero de L’Espresso, in edicola e su app pic.twitter.com/xXEeypA1l9
The L'Espresso piece included testimony from West Bank residents describing damage to infrastructure, attacks, and the seizure of water sources. The publication also cited a figure—1,732 documented incidents of settler violence during the period in question.
According to the Palestinian authorities, at least 1,050 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023.