"There is famine, full-blown famine in the north and it's moving its way south," Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program, said in an interview excerpt published Friday.

"What we are asking for and what we've continually asked for is a ceasefire and the ability to have unfettered access to get in safe... into Gaza -- various ports, various gate crossings," McCain continued.

The World Food Program is one of the many humanitarian groups trying to get aid into Gaza.

The World Health Organization said Friday that the availability of food in the Gaza Strip has very slightly improved, though the risk of famine continues in the besieged Palestinian territory, which is home to 2.4 million people.

UN agencies have warned that maritime deliveries alone cannot deliver sufficient aid to ward off the threat of famine in Gaza and have called on Israel to lift its siege and open all land crossings into the territory.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 34,622 people and wounded 77,000 others, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Israel's siege has pushed more than half of the population to the brink of famine, with people in north Gaza already living under "famine-like conditions."

*This story was edited by Ahram Online