A Holocaust survivor is one of eight people injured in the attack on activists in Boulder, Colorado, who were demonstrating for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The name of the woman has not been released, and there is no update on her health.

According to an update Monday morning, one of the wounded is being treated in critical condition.

It can be recalled that a man chanting “end to Zionists” threw an improvised flamethrower and Molotov bomb at the protesters. According to the FBI, the attacker is a 45-year-old man named Mohamed Sabri Soliman, an Egyptian national, who has been arrested.

US Federal Police Director Cass Patel told X that it was “a targeted terrorist attack” launched against the weekly march demanding the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“Eyewitnesses said the attacker used an improvised flamethrower and fired incendiary devices at the crowd. They also heard the suspect shouting ‘Freedom to Palestine’ during the attack,” Boulder police noted for their part.

Eight victims have been identified: four women and four men, aged between 52 and 88, and among them there is one injured man who is in serious condition, according to authorities. “They have been transported to Denver-area hospitals,” a police statement clarified.

“Based on preliminary evidence, it is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism,” said Mark Mikalek, head of the federal police bureau in Denver.

CBS reported, citing US government officials, that Solyman is of Egyptian descent. He arrived in California in 2022, but his visa expired in February 2023, several sources noted. Lately, he has been living in Colorado Springs.

In a post on X, US President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, wrote that Solyman remained in the US despite his visa having expired, and complained that the previous administration had allowed him to work in the country. Miller stressed that Solyman’s case is further evidence of the need to “completely reverse” what he called “suicidal immigration.”

Reuters was unable to confirm from an independent source the suspect’s immigration status. When asked about Soliman’s case, the Department of Homeland Security indicated that new information would be released as soon as it was available.

“Anti-Semitic attack”

The attack occurred on Pearl Street Mall, a popular shopping area near the University of Colorado, during an event organized by Run for Their Lives, an organization that aims to draw attention to the fate of hostages held in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In a statement, the organization said it has since held marches every week “without any violent incidents to date.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the victims were targeted for attack “simply because they were Jewish” and added that he trusted US authorities to prosecute “the cold-blooded perpetrator to the fullest extent allowed by law”. “Anti-Semitic attacks around the world are a direct result of the blood libel against the Jewish state and the Jewish people, and this must stop,” he stressed.

For his part, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told X “Shocked by this horrific anti-Semitic terrorist act targeting Jews in Boulder, Colorado.” “This is clear anti-Semitism fueled by accusations (against Jews) of ritual murders spread by the media,” he added.

The attack came about 10 days after a gunman killed two employees of the Israeli embassy in the US outside the Jewish Museum in Washington. The gunman, who chanted “Palestine Freedom”, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Anti-Semitic actions have skyrocketed in the US and around the world since October 7, 2023 and the start of Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

The US Department of Justice clarified that “FBI agents are on the ground in Colorado” and called it a “horrific anti-Semitic attack.”

For its part, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called it an “attack” during “a weekly gathering of members of the Jewish community who are running, or marching, for the hostages kidnapped on October 7.”

A video posted on social media, which appears to have been taken at the time of the attack, shows a shirtless man holding two bottles in his hands and the lawn in front of him engulfed in flames, while appearing to shout “Palestine is free.”

Asked by AFP, the White House noted that US President Donald Trump “has been briefed” on the events in Boulder.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told X that he was “praying for the victims of this targeted terrorist attack”. “Terrorism has no place in our great country,” he stressed.