Distressed over media coverage of Israel’s offensive against Gaza, a journalist in Washington DC set himself a blaze on October 5.
Identified as Samuel Mena from Arizona, the journalist attended a pro-Palestine rally in the US capital. He delivered a speech and criticsed the US media for its coverage of the situation in Gaza.
“It is we, the American journalists, through lazy negligence at best or through corporate influence at worst, created the environment, incubated, and carried to term the tools that the leaders of our government would use to dismantle the truths of the world in which we live,” Mena said in his speech, which he posted online a day before the rally.
According to a report by the Middle East Eye, Mena said, “To the 10 thousand children in Gaza that have lost a limb in this conflict, I give my left arm to you. I pray my voice was able to raise up yours, and that your smiles never disappear,” before setting fire to his left arm.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups led a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people including around 373 Israeli soldiers and nearly 700 civilians. About 240 were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
In retaliation, Israel declared war on Gaza launching an aerial bombing campaign across the strip; since the beginning of the offensive, over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed. Schools, UN shelters, hospitals, mosques and residential buildings have been targeted.
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