An independent group of experts has warned that famine may have taken hold in northern Gaza, but the fighting and restrictions on humanitarian access have impeded the data collection to prove it, Al Jazeera reports.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network also warned that Israel’s military offensive in Rafah could mean that “catastrophe” levels of hunger may have been already reached in southern Gaza.

“Regardless of whether or not the famine thresholds have been definitively reached or exceeded, people are dying of hunger-related causes across Gaza,” the experts said, in their latest report.

“Acute malnutrition among children is extremely high and this will result in irreversible physiological impacts,” they added.