(Adds UN secretary-general, paragraphs 3-5)

By David Brunnstrom

BRUSSELS, June 13 (Reuters) - The European Union would consider participation in an international force in Gaza, though any decisions on deployment are still a long way off, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said for the first time on Tuesday that an international force along the Gaza-Egypt border should be seriously considered to help counter the growing strengthen of the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

"If we are asked, of course we will consider that possibility," Javier Solana told reporters in Brussels, when asked if the European Union would contribute to such a force.

At the United Nations in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also raised the possibility of an "international presence" during a lunch with U.N. Security Council members. He said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had asked him to consider U.N. involvement during a telephone call on Tuesday.

"This is is an idea for which we need to explore the possibilities," Ban said. "I have yet to discuss more in detail with the countries concerned."

"I think there are many issues which we will have to consider -- whether (or) if we agree -- and if we decide to have an international presence in Gaza, where to locate them, what would be the terms of reference, what would their missions be." None of these issues were clear yet, Ban said.

Solana, speaking as some of the fiercest factional fighting in months continued in the Palestinian territories, noted that some 70 EU personnel were already taking part in a mission to monitor the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt.

Solana also said that Egypt, which had responsibility for border crossing in this area, was not keen on the deployment of other forces. "Now we are far from a decision," he said.

"It's open and we will see how things evolve and what is the decision taken by the important players which are ... the Israelis, the Palestinians and the Egyptians."

OLMERT RELENTS

Israel had in the past resisted Palestinian calls for peacekeepers in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying their deployment would interfere with Israeli security measures.

But it has signaled flexibility since last year's Lebanon war, which ended with a boosted United Nations peacekeeper force in former Hezbollah guerrilla strongholds.

On Tuesday, Olmert said "serious consideration" should be given to deploying an international force in the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt.

A senior Israeli official added that government experts were exploring what such an international force might look like and what its mandate would entail.

A senior Israeli official said the government would only be prepared to accept a force with a strong mandate and sufficient firepower and added that Olmert's comments could lay the groundwork for Israel to retake the corridor itself, should Western powers balk at Israel's demands.

Italy, a leading contributor to the U.N. force in Lebanon, has said it would consider sending peacekeepers to Gaza if the Palestinian government requested help to end factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

The German EU presidency said in a statement on Wednesday it "condemns in the strongest possible terms the attacks by illegal militias on the National Security Forces."

"It calls on all sides to prevent a civil war, to cease hostilities forthwith, and to return to a political solution."

(Additional reporting by Evelyn Leopold at the United Nations)

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