TEL AVIV, Israel — 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 “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.

Women and children make up roughly half the total, which doesn't include people who've died of hunger-related illness.

The local pause in fighting came days after ceasefire efforts between Israel and Hamas appeared to be in doubt.

Over 250 lorries carrying aid entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to the Israeli military, three days after it began increasing the flow of supplies into the embattled Palestinian territory amid an outcry over reports of imminent famine.

Israel's military has begun a limited pause in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day as part of measures including airdrops as concerns grow over surging hunger.