By Michelle Nichols and Olivia Le Poidevin

UNITED NATIONS/GENEVA, July 29 (Reuters) - A global hunger watchdog warned on Tuesday that famine is "looming" in the Gaza Strip, as international criticism of Israel mounts over the rapidly deteriorating situation in the territory.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warning states that "a worst-case scenario of famine is currently unfolding in the Gaza Strip."

He added, "Increasing evidence indicates that widespread hunger, malnutrition, and disease are leading to increased hunger-related deaths."

The warning does not officially classify Gaza as in a state of famine. Such a classification can only be reached through analysis, which the Integrated Phase Classification announced it will now conduct "without delay."

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a global initiative involving 21 relief organizations, international organizations, and United Nations agencies, which aims to assess the extent of hunger suffered by populations.

For the past 22 months, the war in Gaza has raged between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Amid global condemnation of the humanitarian crisis, Israel announced on Sunday that it would halt its military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of the Palestinian enclave and allow new aid corridors to open.

For an area to be classified as in famine, at least 20 percent of its population must suffer from severe food shortages, one in three children must suffer from acute malnutrition, and two people out of every 10,000 must die each day from hunger, malnutrition, or disease.

The Integrated Phase Classification warning stated, "Immediate action must be taken to end the fighting and allow for a large-scale, unhindered humanitarian response to save lives. This is the only way to prevent further deaths and end the catastrophic human suffering."

According to the warning, the latest data indicates that food consumption has reached famine levels in most parts of the Strip, where approximately 2.1 million people still live, in addition to severe malnutrition in Gaza City.

"Official declarations of famine always lag behind the reality," International Rescue Committee President David Miliband said in a statement ahead of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warning.

"By the time famine was declared in Somalia in 2011, 250,000 people, half of them children under the age of five, had died of starvation. When famine is declared, it is already too late," he added.

(Prepared by Marwa Salam for the Arabic edition - Edited by Marwa Gharib)