Britain said on Tuesday it would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza, where starvation is spreading, and reaches a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war with Hamas.

Famine fears and the new death toll are grim milestones in a conflict that began almost two years ago when Hamas attacked Israel.

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.