Washington  - George Mitchell began his first trip to the Middle East on Monday, planning stops in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, just days after being named US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region.

Mitchell planned to hold talks on the shaky truce between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza and discuss the wider peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Wood said Mitchell - who helped broker a peace deal in Northern Ireland more than a decade ago - would be primarily in a "listening mode" on his first journey to the Middle East.

"He's eager to get out to the region and begin working," Wood said.

Mitchell was also to stop in Europe, though the State Department released no details of which countries he would visit. (dpa)