A US airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington in protest of the war in Gaza has died from his wounds.
Aaron Bushnell, a member of the US Air Force, livestreamed the incident on Twitch before the Secret Service extinguished the flames.
Emergency responders rushed to the scene just before 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) in response to a “call for person on fire outside the Israeli Embassy,” according to a message on X, formerly Twitter, by the capital’s fire department.
Bushnell was transported to the hospital with “critical life threatening injuries,” the fire department said.
An Air Force spokesperson confirmed to AFP that he was an active member of the Air Force, but gave no further details.
The Israeli embassy confirmed no staff were harmed, and that the man was “unknown” to them.
US media reported the man apparently livestreamed himself on Twitch, wearing fatigues and declaring he will “not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in liquid.
He then lit himself on fire while yelling “Free Palestine!” until he fell to the ground.
