GAZA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 75 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense, told Xinhua that 28 Palestinians were killed in Khan Younis and the northern Rafah area in southern Gaza. Among them, 23 were killed near U.S.-backed aid distribution centers and three others died when a school sheltering displaced people was shelled.

In northern Gaza, at least 18 others were killed and 198 others were injured by Israeli army fire while waiting for aid near the Zikim crossing, northwest of the town of Beit Lahia, Basal said.

In central Gaza, another seven people were killed, and 27 others were injured when the Israeli army targeted Palestinian gatherings near an aid distribution point at the Netzarim junction, he said.

A Red Crescent Society employee was killed in an Israeli shelling of the society's building west of Khan Younis, while another person was killed in a strike in the same city, he added.

In a press statement, the Red Crescent Society condemned the Israeli army's bombing of its headquarters in Khan Younis, saying it is "a flagrant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law, which stipulates that medical facilities and Red Cross and Red Crescent personnel must be protected during conflicts."

The civil defense crews have also recovered the bodies of 22 people killed by Israeli shelling while trying to return to their homes east of Gaza City, according to Basal.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on these incidents.

Meanwhile, Munir al-Barash, director general of Gaza's health authorities, said in a statement that Gaza's hospitals that are still functioning are overcrowded. Operating rooms and wards are packed, and even corridors have become beds of pain.

Al-Barash said that bed occupancy rates in the hospitals have reached between 180 and 300 percent. Doctors are lying on the floor, patients are being treated on the tiles, and the pain extends from the room to the sidewalk.

"This is not just a health disaster, but a crime against humanity. Letting Gaza's hospitals collapse means signing a death warrant," Al-Barash said.

At least 9,350 Palestinians had been killed and 37,547 others injured since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in Gaza on March 18, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to 60,839, and injuries to 149,588, Gaza's health authorities said on Sunday. ■