US airman protesting genocide in Gaza dies after setting himself on fire
Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the US Air Force, set himself on fire outside the embassy of the Israeli regime in protest against the campaign of death and destruction in Gaza. He died Saturday night, US officials say.
In a video of the incident, the man in uniform identifies himself as Aaron Bushnell, and says, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”
He later says what he is about to do is minimal compared with the suffering of the Palestinians.
In the footage, Bushnell is seen setting his phone on the ground before pouring an unknown liquid from a metal bottle over himself and igniting it while yelling “Free Palestine!” repeatedly.
He then set himself on fire as he was standing in front of the embassy gates in Washington D.C. on Saturday night.
The 25-year-old airman eventually fell to the ground as police officers rushed to douse the flames.
He was rushed to the hospital with “critical life-threatening injuries.”
Citing US officials, NBC News said on Saturday night that he had passed away.
A US Air Force spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, also confirmed Bushnell was an active-duty airman.
Both the US Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department responded to the incident.
The footage was live-streamed on the social media platform Twitch but it was later removed.
Protests against Israel have become a near-daily occurrence across the United States since the regime launched its bloody campaign in Gaza in early October.
Israel’s embassy in Washington has also been the site of constant protests of that sort.
Israel has killed nearly 30,000 people in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry in the besieged Palestinian territory.
International rights groups have repeatedly said Washington, the regime’s staunch ally, risks complicity in the war crimes of Israel in Gaza. The administration of President Joe Biden has provided roughly 21,000 precision-guided munitions to Israel since that October day.
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