A U.S. military service member who had set himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington over this weekend —in an apparent act of protest against the war in Gaza— has reportedly died, according to local police on Monday.
Officer Lee Lepe, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department, had confirmed the U.S. airman’s death.
NBC News, has meanwhile, said that more details would be released after the military informed his family.
The U.S. airman had been hospitalized in critical condition on Sunday after U.S. Secret Service officers put out the flames, a report by DC Fire and EMS revealed.
Meanwhile, the New York Times had separately reported that the man, wearing military fatigues had broadcasted the incident live over the internet.
The deceased had before dousing himself in a clear liquid and setting himself on fire, screamed, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide. Free Palestine,” according a report by the Times.
This latest incident comes as amid continuous pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests in the United States following the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel that slayed 1,200 Israelis and seized 253 hostages in a cross-border attack.
Israeli forces had consequently, waged a military campaign against the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza, wrecking much of the coastal enclave, with almost 30,000 people confirmed killed, according to health officials in Palestine.
