Active duty member of the United States Air Force, Aaron Bushnell, 25, died in hospital after setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy andnWashington, D.C.
This Monday morning, Washington, DC Police spokesperson Paris Lewbel confirmed the death of Bushnell, who was from San Antonio, Texas.
The young soldier set himself on fire on Sunday around 1:00 p.m. in protest against US support for Israel to continue its military offensive in Gaza, where almost 30,000 Palestinians have died –70% women and children, according to the UN– and more than 1.5 million have been displaced.
“I am an active member of the United States Air Force,” says the young man in a video prior to setting the fire, published on social networks.
“Free Palestine!”Bushnell shouted as his body burned and the screams of the Police could be heard. The soldier said that he did not want to be “complicit in the genocide.”
Air Force spokeswoman Rose M. Riley confirmed Bushnell was in the Air Force.
“[Es] “an active duty Airman was involved in today’s incident,” said spokeswoman Rose M. Riley.
The three-minute video where Bushnell explains the reasons for his intentions confirms that he was about to participate in an “extreme act of protest.”
“Compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it is nothing extreme. “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” he said.
It took police just over a minute to extinguish the flames before Bushnell was taken to a hospital, where he died in the evening.
Israel intensified its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7, where an estimated 1,200 people were killed.
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