European Union (EU) foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana will travel to the Middle East against the backdrop of escalating tension in the region, said his office in a press release on Tuesday.

Solana made a brief visit to Beirut last Sunday and met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. But he failed to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert owing to what he described as "logistics."

In this new trip, Solana will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday before he travels on to Cairo for talks with Egyptian leaders..

The statement did not give details of the trip, nor did it say whether he would discuss the idea of setting up a UN stabilization force in Lebanon.

After the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by the south Lebanon-based Hezbullah, Israel launched retaliatory air strikes on south Lebanon. Hezbullah answered with missile attacks on northern Israeli towns and cities.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was in Brussels on Tuesday for an international conference on Darfur, said a new force, which is larger and stronger than the 2,000 troops already in Lebanon, is needed.

"It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the ground," he told reporters on Tuesday morning.

But he said the authority is with the UN Security Council to decide.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers said they were "acutely concerned" at the situation in the Middle East, and in particular at the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

The EU is the biggest international donor to the Palestinians. So far this year, 329 million euros (411 million U.S. dollars) have been given, either through the temporary international mechanism or urgent humanitarian aid.