‘We have soldiers in the tunnels’: Airman makes big claim over US role in Gaza before setting himself on fire

Aaron Bushnell, the US airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy earlier this week, claimed he had classified information about the US military’s role in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. According to a report, he told his friend New York Post That US troops were fighting in Hamas tunnels beneath Gaza.

Bushnell self-immolated in an “extreme act of protest” against Israel, chanting ‘Free Palestine’ and saying he would not engage in genocide.

Bushnell served in the Air Force’s 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Wing. The day before his death he bragged to a friend that he had “top secret clearance” for military intelligence data.

“They told me on Saturday that there are our soldiers in those tunnels, these are American soldiers who are participating in the killings. Their actual work involves processing intelligence data. What he was processing had something to do with the Israeli Gaza conflict,” the friend was quoted as saying. New York Post,

“One of the things he told me that came to his table… was the US military was involved in the ongoing genocide in Palestine. They told me that we had troops on the ground, you know, they were out there killing Palestinians in large numbers. I can tell you there was something in his voice that told me he was scared,” the friend added.

The White House has repeatedly said it will not deploy US troops to Gaza, but US special operations forces are now in Israel to help find hostages, including Americans taken hostage by Hamas after the October 7 attacks.

The soldiers are also helping Israeli troops with strategies to find Hamas members hiding in underground tunnels in Gaza.

According to a report, the soldiers are not playing a combat role new York Times,

The Air Force confirmed that Bushnell’s job title was Innovation Services Technician. But he did not disclose what level of security clearance he had.