3 Palestinian students shot in America, families demand investigation of the case under hate crime

Three Palestinian students were shot at and wounded in the USA in what was said to be a case of hate crime.

Their families have asked American authorities to investigate the incident as a hate crime. Hisham Awtani, a student at Brown University in Rhode Island; Kinnan Abdel Hamid, a student at Haverford College, Pennsylvania; and Tahseen Ahmed, who attends Trinity College in Connecticut, were shot near the University of Vermont and were being treated on Sunday, according to police.

Burlington police have not identified or captured the shooter, and have not commented on a possible motive. "We call on law enforcement to thoroughly investigate this, including treating it as a hate crime," Middle East Understanding, a pro-Palestinian nonprofit organization, said in a statement circulated by the students' families Sunday. "We will not rest easy until the shooter is brought to justice."

The shootings come as the US has seen a rise in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic incidents, including violent attacks and online harassment, since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Sunday that the students were speaking Arabic and wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyehs, and called on US officials to hold those responsible accountable.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a US-based advocacy organization, also called on state and federal law enforcement to investigate the shooting as a hate crime in a statement Sunday. "The surge in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment we are experiencing is unprecedented and is yet another example of hate turning violent," said Abed Ayoub, ADC's national executive director.

Without identifying the victims, the police statement said the first two were treated at the scene and then taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center by the fire department, and police brought the third to the same hospital. In a Facebook post Ramallah Friends School, a secondary school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the three victims were graduates.

The Facebook post said, "We offer our condolences and prayers for the full recovery of them and their families, especially given the severity of the injuries – as Hisham was shot in the back, Tahseen in the chest and Kinnan Has suffered minor injuries."