"There is famine – full-blown famine – in the north and it's moving its way south," McCain said in an interview set to air Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press."
Her remarks are not an official declaration of famine, which is a technical designation spearheaded by the United Nations. The U.N. has said famine is "imminent" in Gaza since mid-March.
But McCain is the second American official to say that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached the level of famine. Samantha Power, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, was the first to do so during congressional testimony last month.