A group of eight US congressmen arrived in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip Monday in a low-profile visit, well-informed Palestinian sources said.

After crossing from Israel into Gaza, the eight legislators headed for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)'s headquarters in the city and started a meeting with John Ging, the UNRWA operations director, the sources said.

UNRWA officials refused to comment on the visit.

According to the sources, the delegation will not meet with any member from Hamas' administration which has been controlling the Gaza Strip since 2007.

Sharhabeel al-Zaeem, a US-educated lawyer in Gaza, told Xinhua that the congressmen will meet a group of nonpartisan people, including him, later Monday in the Gaza city.

According to al-Zaeem, the senators will visit areas Israel destroyed during its January ground incursion in Gaza and will inspect the living circumstances of people who were affected in the latest military operation.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)