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Palestinian foreign ministry condemns Vermont shooting

The Palestinian foreign ministry on Sunday condemned a shooting in the US state of Vermont in which three Palestinian students were injured.

The ministry said in a statement that Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed, who were speaking Arabic and wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh, had sustained "severe and moderate injuries" during the shooting on Saturday evening.

Israel-Palestine war: Three Palestinian students shot in US in critical condition
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Awartani was reportedly shot in the back, Ahmed in the chest and Abdel Hamid sustained minor wounds. 

The foreign ministry called on US authorities to quickly hold those responsible for the shooting to account.

Earlier, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) condemned the shooting and said it was an outcome of "anti-Palestinian sentiment" in the country.

"We are praying for a full recovery of the victims, and will stand by to support the families in any way that is needed. Given the information collected and provided, it is clear that hate was a motivating factor in this shooting, and we call on law enforcement to investigate it as such," the group said in a statement.

"The surge in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment we are experiencing is unprecedented, and this is another example of that hate turning violent."