Cindy McCain, who leads the United Nations’ food program, said on Thursday that the level of destruction, desperation and hunger she witnessed while visiting starving Gaza begs for Israel to allow an immediate surge of humanitarian assistance into the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

The visit by the World Food Program’s executive director came just days after a major report by food security experts concluded that Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, is experiencing the highest level of famine as a result of Israel’s destruction of the territory and its ongoing blockade of most humanitarian aid.

“Gaza is at a breaking point. Desperation is soaring – and I saw it firsthand,” McCain said in a statement. “We must urgently be able to revive our vast and trusted network of 200 food distribution points across the Strip, community kitchens and bakeries. It is urgent that the right conditions are in place so we can reach the most vulnerable and save lives.”

The WFP chief said she visited Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where she stopped by a nutrition clinic and met with displaced Palestinian mothers who spoke of the often impossible task of acquiring food for their families — sometimes even resorting to searching for scraps in order to keep their children alive.

“I met starving children receiving treatment for severe malnutrition – and I saw photos of when they were healthy. Today they are unrecognizable,” said McCain, who has regularly spoken out against the man-made starvation crisis.

Most Palestinians have been trekking south in hopes of getting food from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, where Israeli soldiers and American mercenaries conduct daily massacres of starving civilians. Many Palestinians there die either by GHF gunfire or by succumbing to their treatable wounds because Israel’s obliteration of Gaza’s health care infrastructure has made it significantly harder for doctors to provide lifesaving care.

After global backlash to its weaponization of food — a violation of international humanitarian law — Israel said it will temporarily allow aid groups to bring in a trickle of assistance. The WFP said there has been a “slight uptick” in aid over the past two weeks that averages around 100 trucks per day, though the agency said the amount is nowhere near enough to support the enclave’s population.

“Half a million people here in Gaza are starving, many more are on the edge,” McCain said. “The desperation is overwhelming. We can reach them. We need safe routes and sustained access. We must deliver at the scale this crisis demands.”

In addition to visiting Gaza, McCain visited the occupied West Bank to meet Mohammad Mustafa, the prime minister of the State of Palestine. She also met in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as leaders from the military and aid coordination agency COGAT, to discuss the state of humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

COGAT has maintained that Palestinians are receiving sufficient aid, despite evidence showing otherwise, and Netanyahu continues to deny that there is famine in Gaza. He has, however, spoken out about images Hamas released showing a visibly malnourished hostage.

McCain warned that if Israel does not allow an immediate surge of aid into the territory, Deir al-Balah will receive a famine classification next month similar to that of Gaza City. She also stressed that Gaza’s famine, engineered by Israel, would worsen malnutrition for both Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages in the territory.

“What we need is a ceasefire,” she said. “We can quickly scale-up humanitarian aid to reach the most vulnerable inside Gaza, support the return of all hostages and lay the foundation for peace and stability.”