Israeli navy escorts Lebanese ship from Gaza waters

A Lebanese ship bound for the Gaza Strip was boarded by the Israeli navy and was being escorted to the Mediterranean port of Ashdod, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.

"The navy boarded the vessel, stopped it and it is now bringing it to Ashdod," Barak said in broadcast remarks.

Doha-based Al-Jazeera television said earlier one of its correspondents was aboard the vessel carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza and quoted him as saying Israeli sailors had boarded it.

"They (the Israeli navy) are opening fire towards the vessel ... there are Israeli soldiers who have actually boarded the vessel," said correspondent Salam Khoder.

"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 line dropped.

It did not say how many people were on board the boat but reported that it was carrying humanitarian aid from mainly Lebanese and Arab charities, destined for those made homeless by Israel's offensive.

The shipment was organised by the Palestinian National Committee Against the Siege in cooperation with the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement.

Two gunboats were visible about a mile (two kms) offshore from Gaza city, escorting the ship northwards.

It appeared to be the first attempt to reach Gaza by a foreign vessel since the 22-day war with Israel ended on Jan. 18 when Israel and Hamas declared separate ceasefires.

There have been several attempts to break the Israeli blockade over the past months by sympathizers 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.