A man set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Sunday afternoon and police were investigating a suspicious nearby vehicle for explosives, according to the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington.
Officers with the U.S. Secret Service extinguished the fire outside the embassy, in northwestern Washington, around 1 p.m., said Vito Maggiolo, a spokesman with 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. Officers with 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, Sean Hickman, a police spokesman, said.
No embassy staff members were injured, and all were accounted for, Tal Naim, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington said.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington has been the site of sustained protests against the war in Gaza as the civilian death toll in the devastated enclave continues to climb, with more than 29,000 dead, according the local health ministry officials.
In December, a protester self-immolated in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta in what police said was “likely an extreme act of political protest.”