A member of the U.S. Air Force has died after setting himself on fire on Sunday outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington in an apparent protest of Israeli military operations throughout the Gaza Strip.
In a graphic live-streamed video subsequently shared across social media on Sunday, a man identifying himself as Aaron Bushnell and as an active-duty Airman walked out in front of a gate leading to the Israeli embassy and poured an accelerant over himself before lighting himself on fire. He appeared to be dressed in a full set of camouflage fatigues.
DC Fire and EMS Service responded to a call about a person on fire outside the Israeli Embassy at around 1 p.m. on Sunday. The emergency service reported taking the individual to an area hospital with critical life-threatening injuries.
On Monday, an Air Force spokesperson confirmed that the Airman in question had passed away as a result of his serious injuries.
“The individual involved in yesterday’s incident succumbed to his injuries and passed away last night,” the service spokesperson said in an emailed statement to NTD News.
The Air Force spokesperson said they would officially identify the airman after notifications to his next of kin.
An incident report shared by the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department indicates members of the U.S. Secret Service’s uniformed division were among the first to receive a distress call from the incident. Secret Service members were notified “regarding an individual exhibiting signs of mental distress,” and a Secret Service officer intervened to extinguish the flames before the local fire department arrived.
‘An Extreme Act of Protest’
This apparent instance of self-immolation comes more than four months into Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip. Those military operations began in response to an Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel by the Hamas terrorist group in which more than 1,200 civilians and Israeli forces were killed.
Since the start of the conflict, international observers have raised concerns that the Israeli efforts to find and eradicate Hamas terrorists are also resulting in large numbers of civilian deaths throughout the Gaza Strip. As of this week, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has reported more than 29,700 residents in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the course of the conflict, though the organization does not clearly distinguish Hamas fighters from legitimate non-combatants.
The South African government has brought a case before the International Court of Justice, alleging Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip amount to genocide. The individual who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy on Sunday alluded to genocide before setting himself on fire.
“I’m an active duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” the man said as he filmed himself walking along the sidewalk next to the embassy. “I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers is not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
The Airman repeated the phrase “free Palestine” as he poured a metal flask full of a liquid accelerant all over himself and appeared to fumble with a lighter for several seconds. As the Airman struggled at first to set himself on fire, an individual could be heard in the background asking, “Can I help you sir?” As the Airman eventually got the fire to start, he began repeatedly shouting “free Palestine,” before his words devolved into screams of agony.
The Airman continued to remain standing for about 40 seconds as the fire engulfed his body. In the background, at least one bystander could be heard repeatedly shouting for the Airman to get on the ground and calling for a fire extinguisher.
Emergency sirens could be heard in the background of the video, and a first responder could be seen running up with a fire extinguisher trying to put out the flames, while another individual could be seen standing a few feet away, appearing to train a handgun at the burning man.