Humanitarian aid organizations and international bodies have warned that Gaza is facing "critical" levels of hunger and that famine is "imminent" in parts of the strip.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the leading international authority on food crises said in a new alert Tuesday, predicting “widespread death” without immediate action.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said, “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

The U.N. is due to start vaccinating some 640,000 children in the territory against polio, relying on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting.

The hunger crisis in Gaza has many asking if Israel had a deliberate policy of starving civilians. Israelis say that was never the case, but an ignorance of Palestinian suffering allowed an inconsistent government policy to lead to a calamity.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is slated to travel to Israel on Thursday to discuss conditions in Gaza amid reports of a "humanitarian crisis" there.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Israel to assess the state of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip as reports of widespread starvation have invigorated demands for an immediate ceasefire.

President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is heading to Israel on Thursday amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.