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.

Israel's prime minister is facing growing international pressure to end the war in Gaza that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians. A leading food crisis group is now warning of widespread famine in Gaza as deaths from starvation rise.

The leading international authority on food crises says the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza" and it predicts “widespread death” without immediate action

For months, 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 Gaza Strip. An increasing number of deaths due to malnutrition have also been reported and gut-wrenching images have emerged of suffering children and long food lines.

The world’s leading authority on hunger said that a ‘worst-case scenario of famine’ was developing in Gaza, though stopped short of a formal famine declaration. NBC News’ Matt Bradley reports.

Israeli strikes or gunfire killed at least 78 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, including a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered after her death but also died, local health officials said.

Humanitarian aid has entered the Gaza Strip for a fourth consecutive day, as Israeli authorities face mounting pressure to ease the catastrophic conditions for Palestinians there. The Israeli military body COGAT said 220 aid trucks crossed into the sealed-off coastal strip on Wednesday and were awaiting distribution.

The United Nations has sharply condemned recent airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza, criticizing them as an inadequate response to a deepening starvation crisis worsened by Israel’s ongoing blockade.