An active member of the US Air Force set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington on Sunday, in apparent protest over the Israeli campaign in Gaza.
Emergency responders who rushed to the scene just before 6pm GMT in response to a “call for person on fire outside the Israeli Embassy,” arrived to find that officers from the Secret Service, the US law enforcement agency tasked with protecting US political leaders, visiting heads of state and others, had already extinguished the fire.
The man was transported to hospital with critical life threatening injuries. A spokeswoman for the Air Force, Rose M. Riley, while confirming that an active duty airman was involved in the incident, did not give any further details.
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A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy, Tal Naim, said no staff were injured in the incident, and that the man was “unknown” to them.
AP reports that the man apparently livestreamed himself on Twitch, wearing fatigues and declaring he will “not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in liquid, setting himself on fire while yelling “Free Palestine!” until he fell on the ground.
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