The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday that more than 100,000 children in Ethiopia's Tigray region are at risk of starving to death.

The UN agency warned that the region could suffer a life-threatening malnutrition crisis within the next 12 months which could increase by more than 10 times what already is now.

UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado said that one-in-two pregnant and breastfeeding women screened in Tigray were acutely malnourished.

"Our worst fears about the health and well-being of children... are being confirmed," she told a briefing in Geneva.

Tigray is currently in crisis as the rebellious Tigray revolutionary army and Ethiopia's Government army have been fighting in the region. The war has prompted a humanitarian crisis in the region.

Aid agencies working in the region say they are about to run out of the formula used to treat 4,000 severely malnourished children every month.

The U.N. says that around 400,000 people are living in famine conditions in Tigray, and more than 90% of the population needs emergency food aid.

The U.N. says Tigray needs 100 trucks of food daily to prevent mass starvation; only one 50-truck convoy has gotten through in the past month.