The U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., in an apparent protest against the war between Israel and Hamas, has died, a U.S. official told NBC News.
His next of kin is being notified, so the
Air Force will not release his identity
until 24 hours after all notifications are complete.
The District of Columbia Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to a call about a person on fire outside the embassy just before 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Secret Service agents extinguished the fire.
The man filmed the protest, in which he shouted “Free Palestine” until he fell to the ground.
In a live broadcast, he also
called the Israeli offensive in Gaza “genocide”
and said that what he was doing was not as extreme as the suffering of the Palestinian people.
The man was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, authorities said Sunday.
An Air Force spokesperson confirmed that the soldier was on active duty.