Gaza - A team of United Nations experts is to visit the Gaza Strip on May 11 to investigate environmental damage left by an Israeli offensive earlier in the year, a UN official said Tuesday.

Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said he found poor conditions iwhen he made a preliminary visit to the Palestinian territory.

A major result of the massive Israeli incursion was ongoing difficulties in water provision as well as sewage removal, he said.

He added that the destruction of buildings also released dangerous substances, and that dangerous medical waste produced by hospitals treating the thousands injured could not adequately be disposed of.

The continued blockade of the Palestinian territory by Israel three months after the end of the offensive was also hindering efforts by aid workers, Steiner said.

Palestinian sources say that more than 1,400 Gaza residents were killed in the 22-day offensive, which Israel launched on December 27 in a bid to curb rocket attacks from the coastal enclave. (dpa)