LAST UPDATE | 15 hrs ago
A US AIRMAN has died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington at the weekend in protest over the war in Gaza.
The man has been identified by US police as Aaron Bushnell, 25, of San Antonio, Texas.
The shocking act was an escalation of recent protests across the United States against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Emergency responders yesterday rushed to the scene in response to a “call for person on fire outside the Israeli Embassy,” the capital city’s fire department said.
The unnamed man had filmed himself shouting “Free Palestine” as he lit himself on fire, according to footage shared on social media.
He was transported to hospital with “critical life-threatening injuries,” the fire department said, and an Air Force spokeswoman said this morning he had died Sunday night.
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy said no staff were injured.
In the video, the man wearing military fatigues declared he will “not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in liquid, lighting himself on fire and yelling “Free Palestine!” until he collapses.
The video was reportedly first shared in a livestream on the social platform Twitch.
With the death toll in Gaza nearing 30,000, according to the health ministry there, international pressure has been increasing on the United States to rein in ally Israel and call for a ceasefire.
The war broke out after Hamas launched an unprecedented 7 October attack which killed 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians.
Militants also took about 250 hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead, according to Israel.
Washington last week blocked a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, its third such use of its veto on the matter.
Some voters in Joe Biden’s Democratic Party are attempting to press the president on the issue.
Groups of Arab American voters in Michigan have pledged to vote “uncommitted” or write in “Free Palestine” on their ballots in the state’s primary tomorrow.
The White House has tried to assuage Arab and Muslim voters’ concerns in part by portraying the president as frustrated with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
But US weapons have flowed to Israel since 7 October, while Washington’s efforts to broker a second pause in fighting have so far failed.
In an update on ongoing multinational talks yesterday, the United States said an “understanding” had emerged on a possible deal for Hamas to release hostages and for a new ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Domestic US demonstrations have typically involved peaceful street protests, though in December a person outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta also set themself on fire.
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