U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in D.C. has died

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 Israel-Hamas war has died, according to a U.S. official.

The airman was identified by police as 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell of San Antonio, Texas.

Dressed in military fatigues, Bushnell filmed himself yelling “Free Palestine” before collapsing to the ground. 

In a livestream, Bushnell called the Israeli crackdown in Gaza “genocide” and said what he was doing was not as extreme as the suffering of the Palestinian people.

He then put his phone down, doused himself over the head with a liquid from a water bottle, and then set himself ablaze.

The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department responded to a call about a person on fire outside the embassy just before 1 p.m. Sunday. But by the time firefighters arrived, the flames had been extinguished by members of the Secret Service. 

Bushnell was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, D.C. Fire and EMS said.

An Air Force spokesperson confirmed Bushnell was an active-duty Air Force officer.

The Israeli Embassy said none of its staffers were injured. 

The incident comes as the Israel-Hamas war has stretched into its fourth month.

It follows a similar incident in December when a woman set herself on fire outside the Israeli Consulate General building in Atlanta. A Palestinian flag was recovered from the scene and police described the incident as an “extreme political protest.”

There have been multiple protests since Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostage. Nearly 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli military has presented the war Cabinet with a plan for the evacuation of civilians from “fighting areas” in Gaza. It comes as Netanyahu has spoken of a planned ground offensive on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city along the border with Egypt, where 1 million Palestinians have sought safety.

International figures, including United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, have warned against a full-scale Israeli assault on Rafah, citing safety concerns over Palestinians seeking refuge there as well as obstruction of the flow of aid.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.