In the face of rising criticism of Israeli atrocities on Gaza, which has killed nearly 54,000 Palestinians, a man in the United States yelling “free Palestine” used incendiary devices to torch protesters rallying in support of Israeli hostages, injuring at least eight people in the US state of Colorado on Sunday.

The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack” and identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman.

He was booked into the county jail just before midnight on multiple felony charges, according to county records. His bond has been set at $10 million.

The incident comes as pressure on Israel rises to cease what has been called a “genocide” in Gaza by the United Nations and Amnesty International among other international human rights organisations.

Police in the city of Boulder said it was too early to determine a motive for the attack, which took place shortly before 1:30pm (12:30am PKT) at a demonstration outside a mall.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish activist group, said the “violent anti-Semitic attack” occurred at Sunday’s “Run for Their Lives” event, a weekly gathering of the Jewish community in solidarity with hostages seized during Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, sparking the onslaught in Gaza.

FBI agent Mark Michalek told reporters the attack happened at a “regularly scheduled weekly peaceful event”.

“Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary into the crowd,” he said, adding that “the suspect was heard to yell: ‘Free Palestine!’”

Boulder Police said that eight victims, four men and four women aged between 52 and 88, were transported to hospitals.

Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn told reporters that “at least one victim was very seriously injured, probably safe to say critical condition.”

The suspect was also injured before being taken into custody, Redfearn said.

Molotov cocktails

In one video that purportedly shows the attack, a shirtless man holding clear bottles in his hands is seen pacing as the grass in front of him burns.

He can be heard screaming “End Zionists!” and “They are killers!” towards several people in red T-shirts as they tend to a person lying on the ground.

Other images showed billowing black smoke.

Boulder resident Alexis Cendon said he felt “very, very scared” after hearing about the attack near his workplace.

Sunday’s attack occurred during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

It comes almost two weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington, where a 31-year-old suspect, who shouted “Free Palestine,” was arrested.

Boulder Police Chief Redfearn insisted it was “way too early to speculate motive,” but FBI chief Kash Patel described the incident as “a targeted terror attack”.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser labelled it “a hate crime”.

“People may have differing views about world events and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, but violence is never the answer to settling differences,” Weiser said.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller posted on X that the suspect was a foreign national who “illegally overstayed [his] visa”.

Fox News and CBS both cited US officials as saying Soliman was an Egyptian national.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the incident.

‘Burning the streets’

Israel’s top diplomat Gideon Saar condemned Sunday’s “terrible anti-Semitic terror attack targeting Jews in Boulder”.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon also voiced outrage.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also described the Boulder incident as a “targeted terror attack,” while Attorney General Pam Bondi termed it “a horrific anti-Semitic attack”. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle expressed revulsion.

“Tonight, a peaceful demonstration was targeted in a vile, antisemitic act of terror,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “Once again, Jews are left reeling from repeated acts of violence and terror.”

Several organisations also decried the violence.

“This is an attack on all of us — and we will not stay silent,” the Israeli-American Council said in a statement.