A man set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington on Sunday afternoon and police were investigating a suspicious vehicle nearby for explosives, according to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
US secret service agents extinguished the fire in front of the embassy in northwest Washington around 1:00 p.m., reported Vito Maggiolo, spokesman for the city’s fire department. The man was taken to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries and remains in critical condition.
The investigation was continuing and police had not cleared the scene as of Sunday afternoon. Officials from the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were working with Washington’s explosive ordinance disposal unit to investigate the incident, police spokesman Sean Hickman said.
No embassy staff were injured and all were accounted for, said Tal Naim, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Israel’s embassy in Washington has been the scene of sustained protests against the war in Gaza as the civilian death toll in the devastated enclave continues to rise, with more than 29,000 dead, according to local Health Ministry officials.
In December, a protester committed self-immolation outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta in what police said was “likely an extreme act of political protest.”