JERUSALEM, JULY 20 (AP/UNB) - An Israeli hospital says a man who set himself on fire a week ago to protest the country's high cost of living has died of his wounds.

The Sheba Medical Center said that 58-year-old Moshe Silman died Friday as a result of the severe burns he sustained.

Cases of self-immolation as a form of protest are extremely rare in Israel.

The country was shocked last Saturday when, during a rally in Tel Aviv marking the first anniversary of a wave of social protests that swept the country, Silman doused himself in gasoline and set himself alight.

Friends say Silman felt he had no way out after falling on hard times.

Social activists say the desperate act highlights how dire Israel's social problems have become.