A man is in critical condition after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC. The person was taken to an area hospital after firefighters put out the flames and paramedics treated him.
The spokesperson for the Washington Police Department reported that the man is in serious condition and together with the Secret Service they are investigating the incident.
The Metropolitan Police Department said it responded to an incident on International Drive around 1:00 p.m. to assist the Secret Service. Firefighters and emergency services said the man had serious burns.
“An adult male was transported by DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition,” the police department said.
The man appeared to have filmed the protest and live-streamed it on the social media platform Twitch. at the time police said they responded to the incident.
Standing in front of the embassy doors, he left his phone to film soaking himself with a clear liquid from a metal bottle. He then set himself on fire while shouting “Free Palestine!” until he fell to the ground, when uniformed officers took action.
Police said an explosive ordnance disposal unit had also been called to the scene in relation to a suspicious vehicle that could be linked to the individual. He later said no hazardous material was found.
The Israeli Embassy has been the target of continued demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The conflict has sparked pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests in the United States.
Even in October 2023, there were several attacks by protesters against diplomatic headquarters of Israel, the United States and other countries after the bombing of a hospital in Gaza.
The largest demonstrations took place in Istanbul, Turkey, where a crowd carrying pro-Palestinian flags and banners gathered in front of the Israeli consulate and then entered the facility after breaching a police barricade.
The war broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, and kidnapped about 250 more, according to a toll based on Israeli data.
In response to the attack, Israel launched an air and ground offensive that has already caused 29,692 deaths in Gaza, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Palestinian territory’s Ministry of Health.
In such a situation, International voices also raised their voices, as was the case of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who insisted that Israel commits “genocide.” against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, after comparing the actions of the Jewish State to the Holocaust.
“What the government of the State of Israel is doing is not a war, it is genocide, because it is killing women and children,” Lula said at an event in Rio de Janeiro.
After the statements, Israel declared Lula “persona non grata” and demanded his apology.
But the Brazilian president insisted again: “It is a genocide, there are thousands of children dead and thousands missing. Soldiers are not dying, women and children are dying in the hospital. If that’s not genocide, I don’t know what genocide is.”
Accompanied by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, the Brazilian head of state raised his tone and stated that he does not change his “dignity for falsehood,” in response to the accusations leveled against him by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz.
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