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.

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.