New York  - Last week's armed conflict between groups in the Gaza Strip has raised concerns over the radicalization of warring elements and continued arms smuggling, the United Nations said Wednesday.

Fighting in Gaza between Hamas and the Islamic group Jund Ansar Allah, which wanted to declare an Islamic emirate in Gaza, left at least 28 people dead on Friday.

"The events highlight concerns regarding the radicalization of certain elements in Gaza, the dangers of continued smuggling of weapons and explosives into the Strip," Oscar Fernandez-Taranco informed the UN Security Council in an open session on the situation in the Middle East.

Fernandez-Taranco, a UN assistant secretary general for political affairs, said the situation in Gaza is compounded by the lack of an appropriate legal framework to ensure public security and order and lack of full respect of international humanitarian law by all parties. He said the civilian population remains vulnerable to the conflict.

The incident in Gaza was in contrast to the overall situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the past month, during which no deaths on either side were reported. But attacks on Israeli settlers and other incidents caused injuries to 24 Palestinians and seven Israelis. (dpa)