The “worst-case scenario of famine” is currently taking place in the Gaza Strip, according to an alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a United Nations-backed initiative.

A "worst-case scenario of famine" is playing out in Gaza as access to food plummets to unprecedented lows, according to the IPC global hunger authority.

A formal famine declaration, which is rare, requires the kind of data that the lack of access to Gaza and mobility within has largely denied.

“There was an air strike on Gaza City, and this is one of the areas that was designated as a safe area and where the Israeli forces are going to halt their military operations,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported from Deir el-Balah.

Israel has announced a daily “tactical pause in military activity” in three areas of Gaza to enable more aid to reach people, amid growing international outrage over starvation in the territory.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, including a pregnant woman and her newborn, local health officials said. Israel meanwhile eased some aid restrictions as it came under mounting pressure over the spiraling hunger crisis in the war-ravaged territory.