Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old US Air Force corporal, was the serviceman who set himself on fire two days ago in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest the war on the Gaza Strip and succumbed to his injuries yesterday.

The Pentagon described the death of the serviceman as a “tragic event” and added that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is being informed of the case.

Hamas also expressed its condolences for Bushnell’s death.

The armed Palestinian organization of the Gaza Strip commented via Telegram that “we express our deepest condolences and our full solidarity to the family and friends of the American airman Aaron Bushnell, who made his name immortal, became a defender of human values ​​by protesting against suffering of the Palestinian people’ which he attributed in part to ‘the US government and its unjust policies’.

The young man, wearing a uniform, broadcast his award-winning feat live via the Twitch platform.

In an excerpt of the video, the young man says that he no longer refuses to be an “accomplice in genocide”, covers himself with transparent flammable liquid and sets himself on fire shouting “freedom in Palestine” while then collapsing.

Yesterday, outside the embassy where the 25-year-old self-immolated, an all-night vigil was held in his memory while those gathered with flowers and candles held banners with slogans against the war in Gaza.

The extreme act of protest came as protests against Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip multiply in the US in retaliation for Hamas’s unprecedented attack on its territory on October 7.

In December, a woman set herself on fire in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.