On cam: US air force member sets self on fire outside Israeli embassy

A US Air Force member who set himself on fire Sunday in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., has died, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson told media Monday.

The man’s identity has not been disclosed as officials are working on notifying his next of kin.

The man was an active-duty airman with the U.S. Air Force, military news site Task and Purpose reported.

Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department said they responded on Sunday afternoon to assist the U.S. Secret Service “after an individual set themselves on fire in front of an embassy in the block.” Members of the Secret Service’s uniformed division extinguished the man outside the embassy before D.C. Fire and EMS transported him to a local hospital.

D.C. Fire at the time told media that the man was in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. Officials did not say whether the self-immolation was a form of protest.

No one from the Israeli Embassy was injured during the incident, said a spokesperson for the embassy.

Police said they are working with the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate the incident. The police department’s bomb squad also responded to the scene “in reference to a suspicious vehicle that may be connected to the individual,” though officials did not go into further detail.

Officials said that a video online, which shows an individual setting himself on fire as he shouts “Free Palestine,” appeared to be posted by the man who was taken to the hospital.

Sunday’s incident seems to be the second such instance, after one person self-immolated in December outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta.