New York: Three young Palestinian students were reportedly shot near a university campus on Saturday night in the city of Burlington, Vermont.
Victims, identified as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed, were attacked on their way to a family dinner. They are studying at three different universities in the US.
Hisham Awartani is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island, while Kinnan Abdel Hamid attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Tahseen Ahmed, attends Trinity College in Connecticut.
The school said all had survived, with varying severity of injuries.
"We extend our thoughts and prayers to them and their families for a full recovery, especially considering the severity of injuries — as Hisham has been shot in the back, Tahseen in the chest, and Kinnan with minor injuries," the Facebook post said.
Husam Zomlot, Head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, in a post on X, said: "Three young Palestinian men, Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ali and Kenan Abdulhamid, students at Brown and other US universities, were shot last night on their way to a family dinner in Burlington, USA. Their crime? Wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh. They are critically injured."
"And Six weeks ago, a 6-year-old Palestinian child was stabbed 26 times in a hate crime in Illinois. The hate crimes against Palestinians must stop. Palestinians everywhere need protection," Zomlot added in the post.
The U.S. is currently witnessing a surge in Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents, including violent assaults and online harassment, since the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted on October 7.
The students had been speaking Arabic and wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh when they were attacked, the Palestinian foreign ministry said on Sunday. It also called on U.S. authorities to hold those responsible to account.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a U.S.-based advocacy organization, called on state and federal law enforcement to investigate the shooting as a hate crime in a statement on Sunday.
With inputs from agencies