Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora condemned the action. “Those who commit massacres against innocent civilians in Lebanon and Gaza will not stop themselves from assaulting, in front of the world, a ship carrying humanitarian supplies,” he said. “I express my utmost condemnation for this blatant attack.”

The ship was towed into the commercial port, surrounded by Israeli naval vessels before being steered to a military dock.

Israeli forces intercepted the Togolese-flagged “Tali” as it tried to enter Gaza’s territorial waters, the military said. “While at sea, the cargo boat was contacted by Israel, clarifying that it will not be permitted to enter Gazan coastal waters because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade,” the statement said.

The crew stated it would sail to the Egyptian port of Al Arish, but eventually tried to slip into Gaza, the military said.

It said the crew would be questioned by police and any humanitarian goods aboard the vessel taken to Gaza. One of the organisers of the shipment claimed the navy had fired on the boat, an allegation denied by Israel. “We were informed by the crew that Israeli forces boarded the ship after firing shots at it,” Maen Bashur said.

Earlier, Al Jazeera television reported that the Israeli navy had opened fire in the direction of the vessel heading towards the Gaza Strip and assaulted some of the people on board the ship carrying humanitarian aid, . “They (Israeli navy) are opening fire towards the vessel ... there are Israeli soldiers who have actually boarded the vessel,” said Salam Khoder, an Al Jazeera correspondent on board the ship.

“Three of them are pointing their weapons at us ... They are beating those on the vessel, they are beating and kicking us,” Khoder said in a frantic voice before the telephone interview was terminated.

The boat was carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip where thousands of people were left homeless after Israel’s 22-day offensive, which ended on January 18, during which about 1,300 Palestinians were killed and hundreds of houses destroyed.

The aid on board the ship came from mainly Lebanese and Arab charities. The shipment was organised by the Palestinian National Committee Against the Siege in cooperation with the US-based Free Gaza Movement.

In December, the Israeli navy clashed with a small boat, Dignity, carrying international activists with aid for Gaza and forced it to divert to Lebanon’s waters. Israel declared the Gaza coastal territory a closed military zone after it started the offensive on December 27 to stop Palestinian militant group Hamas firing rockets at Israeli towns and settlements. Hamas defeated Fatah forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 leaving the Fatah faction controlling the West Bank.

There have been several attempts to break the Israeli blockade over the past months by sympathisers of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians. Some boats with peace activists were allowed to dock, others were warned off.

In December, the Israeli navy clashed with a small boat, Dignity, carrying international activists with aid for Gaza and forced it to divert to Lebanon’s waters. Israel maintains tight control of Gaza’s access to the outside world, insisting it will not permit cash, steel or any other materials that could be used by Hamas Islamists in control of the Gaza Strip to make weapons for use against Israelis. Israeli army radio quoted military sources as saying the Lebanese ship arrived off Gaza coming from Cyprus. The navy had made radio contact and warned it could not continue to Gaza. The navy then gave the ship permission to carry on south to the Egyptian port of al-Arish “but at the last minute it took a turn to the north and entered the territorial waters of Gaza, a zone barred to all seacraft”. Army radio said it was not clear what had happened on board the freighter, but it had been overtaken and was being escorted to Ashdod, Israel’s second biggest port on the Mediterranean.

An Israeli army spokesman said no gunfire was used in taking control of the vessel and most of the 20 passengers aboard were from media organisations. The freighter left Lebanon and docked in Cyprus before sailing for Gaza. The captain was told repeatedly that he would not be allowed to take it into Gaza waters, the army spokesman said. Confronted on Wednesday by Israeli navy vessels, the ship’s captain said he was changing course for the Egyptian port of El Arish on the Mediterranean coast, 45km west of the Gaza-Egypt border. -Agencies