An Egyptian national who was living in the US illegally hurled firebombs at a crowd marching at an Israeli hostage solidarity event in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday afternoon, June 1, injuring 12 people, one critically.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, fired two lit Molotov cocktails into a crowd walking for “Run for Their Lives,” a grassroots organization that facilitates global run and walk events calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. As he carried out the attack, he screamed “Free Palestine” and “End Zionists.”

The makeshift bombs burst into flames in the crowd, causing several people to catch on fire. The two most severely injured victims, an 88-year-old woman and her husband, and another elderly woman who is a Holocaust survivor, were airlifted to a Colorado burn center. The other victims were treated at a nearby hospital, and most have since been released.

During the attack, one of the Molotov cocktails caused the terrorist’s shirt to set on fire. He removed his shirt and a bulletproof vest, and then police, who had been called to the scene, arrested him. He did not resist the arrest.

Miri Kornfeld, an organizer with Run For Their Lives, which holds weekly walks to raise awareness of Israeli hostages, told 9NEWS the group was walking on Pearl Street on Sunday afternoon. When they arrived at the historic courthouse in the area of 13th and Pearl streets, a man was waiting there with bottles, Kornfeld said. He threw the bottles, and five people were burned, including one woman who was badly burned and had to roll on the ground to put the fire out, she said.

Soliman told the police that he wanted to “kill all Zionist people” and swore he would “do it again.” He learned how to make Molotov cocktails from backpack weed sprayers loaded with gasoline on YouTube after he was denied a gun permit due to his immigration status.

After his arrest, police found a plastic container nearby with 14 Molotov cocktails and a backpack weed sprayer loaded with gasoline. Later they found his car a few blocks away, a Toyota Prius with a gas container and papers with the words “Israel,” “Palestine,” and “USAID” inside it.

Soliman entered the US on a tourist visa in 2022 and then continued to live in the US illegally. He lived about two hours away from the scene of the attack, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife and five children.

According to the FBI, Soliman planned the attack for a year but delayed carrying it out until his daughter graduated from high school.

He is currently being held on a $10 million bail. He was charged by the federal government with hate crimes and 16 counts of attempted murder by the State of Colorado.

US President Donald Trump blamed the attack on former president Joe Biden’s border policy.

“He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy,” Trump wrote.

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated on Isru Chag in Israel.)