A US military serviceman, who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington over the weekend, in an apparent act of protest against the war in Gaza, has died, local police said on Monday.
He was identified as Aaron Bushnell in some reports.
Officer Lee Lepe, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department, confirmed the US airman’s death.
NBC News, citing an unnamed US official, said more details would be released after the military notified his family.
The US airman had been hospitalized in critical condition on Sunday after US Secret Service officers put out the flames, DC Fire and EMS had said earlier.
The New York Times had separately reported that the man, wearing military fatigues, broadcast the incident live over the internet.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” said the man, wearing military fatigues, in a video he broadcasted live over the internet, according to the New York Times.
He then doused himself in a clear liquid and set himself on fire, screaming “Free Palestine,” the Times reported.
Local police and Secret Service are investigating the incident.
The latest incident comes as amid ongoing pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests in the United States following the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis and seized 253 hostages in a cross-border attack.
Israeli forces then waged a military campaign against the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza, destroying much of the coastal enclave, with nearly 30,000 people confirmed killed, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israel’s embassies have drawn continued protest against the war.
In December, a woman protesting the war set herself on fire outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta.
The man had been transported to an area hospital after the fire was put out by US Secret Service officers, DC Fire and EMS posted online.
The man remained in critical condition, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson said Sunday afternoon.
An Air Force spokesperson confirmed that the incident involved a active duty airman.
REUTERS
