WASHINGTON: A US military service member set himself on fire, in an apparent act of protest against the war in Gaza, outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
The man was transported to an area hospital after the fire was put out by US Secret Service officers, DC Fire and EMS posted online. The man remains in critical condition, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson said Sunday afternoon. An Air Force spokesperson confirmed that the incident involved a active duty airman.
“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.
AFP has been unable to immediately verify the footage, with the New York Times reporting that it was removed from Twitch.
The shocking act came as protests are increasing across the United States against Israel’s actions in Gaza, where it is waging a retaliatory war for an attack on October 7 by Hamas militants.
Local police and Secret Service are investigating the incident.
Israel’s embassy has been the target of continued protest against the war in Gaza. The war in Gaza has led to pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests in the United States.
The protests started after October 7 when Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza, killed 1,200 Israelis and seized 253 hostages in a cross-border attack.
Since then, Israeli forces have waged a military campaign against the coastal enclave, laying much of it to waste, with nearly 30,000 people dead, according to Palestinian health officials.
With the death toll in Gaza nearing 30,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there, international pressure has been increasing on the United States to rein its ally Israel in and call for a ceasefire.
In December, a protester set herself on fire outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta.
