"The administration of US President (Joe) Biden bears full responsibility for the death of US Army pilot Aaron Bushnell due to its policy that supported the Nazi Zionist entity in its war of extermination against our Palestinian people, as he gave his life in order to shed light on the Zionist massacres and ethnic cleansing against our people in the Gaza Strip," Anadolu Agency reported citing Hamas' statement.
Expressing its condolences and full solidarity with the family and friends of Bushnell, Hamas said he will "remain immortal" in the memory of the Palestinian people.
Bushnell died after lighting himself on fire Sunday afternoon in front of the Israeli Embassy to protest Israel’s ongoing war in the besieged Gaza Strip and US support for the offensive.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” Bushnell said in a video recording that chronicled the fatal protest.
He can repeatedly be heard shouting "Free Palestine!" as flames engulf him before he collapses to the ground.
Israel waged its brutal war on besieged Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out an unprecedented operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured at least 68,883 others.
Israel has imposed a complete siege on the densely populated territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
AMK/PR