Israel commandos on Tuesday boarded a French yacht heading for Gaza in defiance of its naval blockade, and escorted it to shore after what the military said was an uneventful takeover.

An army spokesman confirmed the interception of the MV Dignite/Al Karama took place without violence and said that the crew and passengers were put on an Israeli naval vessel headed to the southern port of Ashdod.

"IDF navy soldiers boarded the Al Karama in an effort to stop it from breaking the maritime security blockade on the Gaza Strip," a military statement said, indicating the move came "after all diplomatic channels had been exhausted and continuous calls to the vessel had been ignored."

Four hours later, the yacht was escorted into Ashdod by three Israeli warships and the passengers were taken off for interrogation in a move denounced by the organisers.

"The boarding (of the yacht) is an act of violence and an illegal act," the Paris-based organisers said in a statement, calling it "a new act of piracy against harmless people."

"Forcefully bringing a boat and its passengers to Ashdod port with weapons and military vessels, is an act of violence which must be condemned, just like the blockade of Gaza," it said.

There were 16 people on board, 11 of them French, while the others are from Sweden, Canada, Greece and Israel, and the foreigners were facing deportation.

"Fifteen people on board were interviewed by the immigration services at Holon (near Tel Aviv) and must be sent back to their countries of origin," a spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said late Tuesday.

"An Israeli woman has been released," a police spokeswoman added.

The journalists aboard are Amira Hass, a veteran Israeli columnist who covers Palestinian affairs for the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, and the other two work for Al-Jazeera television.

Last month, Israel pledged that foreign journalists covering the arrival of what had been expected to be a 10-ship flotilla to Gaza would not face the same sanction as other participants.

The yacht charted a course for Gaza despite Israeli warnings that it would intercept the only boat remaining from the larger flotilla that had been due to sail for Gaza at the end of June.

The Dignite/Al Karama had hoped to reach Gaza around midday but was blocked in the early morning by at least three Israeli ships which made clear it would not be allowed to reach its destination.

The yacht had sailed from the Greek island of Kastellorizo on Saturday evening following a troubled stay in Greece, after Athens imposed a ban on the departure of any ships involved in the flotilla.

"The government neutralised the flotilla through systematic diplomatic action," a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Tuesday.

"Israel will continue to allow the transfer of goods and food to the Gaza Strip, but will maintain the maritime blockade of the territory to prevent the flow of arms and missiles, which are fired daily at Israeli citizens by the Hamas government."

According to military sources cited by Israeli public radio, the soldiers did not discover arms or humanitarian aid on board the vessel.

Gaza's Hamas rulers reacted angrily to the boat's interception, with spokesman Taher al-Nunu angrily denouncing Israel's "Zionist piracy" and blaming the United Nations for not punishing the Jewish state over its deadly raid on a six-vessel flotilla that set sail in May 2010, led by the Mavi Marmara.

Nine Turkish activists died in the bloody confrontation, prompting a wave of global criticism and a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey.

"This is a new act of Zionist piracy and the United Nations bears part of the responsibility because of its failure to punish Israel for its crimes against the Marmara, which encouraged it to continue to act in this aggressive and illegal way," Nunu told AFP.

"The international community must now take a clear stand on whether the siege on Gaza is legal and moral or not... and the answer will certainly be that it is illegal and immoral, which requires a serious stand against Israel that does not involve political hypocrisy and double standards."

Israel insists that its blockade is both legal and necessary to prevent Hamas from obtaining funds and weapons to attack it.

But Thomas Sommer-Houdeville, a French activist on board, told AFP the yacht was carrying nothing but a "symbolic message of peace and hope and love" and that Israel had no reason to intercept it.

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