Jerusalem (CNN) -- A wheelchair-bound Israeli veteran died Wednesday, days after setting himself on fire in a protest over his economic situation, a spokeswoman for Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv said. 

Akiva Mafa'i, who was badly injured two decades ago during his service in the Israel Defense Forces, had set himself alight Sunday. 

The 45-year-old poured gasoline over his body and ignited it at a bus station in the town of Yehud. Passersby extinguished the flames with bottles of water and a fire extinguisher but he was left with 70% burns. 

The veteran had spent four months in a coma at the Beer Sheva Medical Center after he was injured at age 23, according to local media reports. He was to be married a month after he was hurt but the marriage was canceled. 

Mafa'i is the second person to die in a self-immolation in Israel in less than a week. 

Moshe Silman, a bed-ridden member of a movement to lower the cost of living in Israel, set himself alight during a demonstration in Tel Aviv on July 14. He died two weeks later. 

Teenage monk self-immolates in China 

According to local media reports, he left a note accusing the conservative Netanyahu government of "taking from the poor and giving to the rich." Israeli media have reported other suicide attempts apparently motivated by economic hardship. 

The social protest movement has been gaining ground since large demonstrations were held in cities last summer, led by members of Israel's middle class, over soaring costs of living. 
Did someone put him out?
Passersby extinguished the flames with bottles of water