A US soldier sustained serious injuries while attempting to set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Sunday, February 25th, according to officials. Local media reports suggested that he was protesting against the war in Gaza.
The DC Fire Department announced that emergency services rushed to the scene around 1:00 PM (18:00 GMT) in response to “a call regarding a person on fire outside the Israeli Embassy.”
Upon arrival, they found that the Secret Service, responsible for protecting prominent figures in the US, had already extinguished the fire. The man was then transported to the hospital with “life-threatening injuries,” according to the same source.
A spokesperson for the Air Force confirmed that the man was an active-duty member of the US Air Force, without providing further details. Meanwhile, the Israeli Embassy stated that none of its staff were injured in the incident, and the American soldier involved remains “unidentified.”
American media outlets reported that footage broadcast by the soldier himself on the live-streaming platform Twitch showed him in military attire, declaring that he “will not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in a flammable substance. He then attempted to set himself on fire, shouting “Free Palestine!” until he collapsed.
AFP could not immediately verify the footage, while The New York Times reported that it had been removed from Twitch. The incident comes amidst growing protests in the United States against the Israeli military operation in Gaza, following the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th.