The Israeli army confirmed that a Lebanese aid boat, which was trying to enter the Gaza Strip water, was seized by the Israeli navy on Thursday morning.

A spokesman of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Xinhua that the Lebanese cargo boat "Taly," with eight people and 60 tons of humanitarian supplies on board, was stopped by Israeli navy from making its way to Gaza and was towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The crew was taken in for questioning by Israeli security personnel and all the humanitarian goods would be transferred into Gaza via border crossings, the spokesman said.

Earlier, reporters from Al-Jadeed and al-Jazeera TVs said the Israeli navy fired three times on the ship, which caused no casualties.

The Al-Jadeed station said Israeli troops then boarded the ship and threatened the crew, adding that the Togo-flagged ship was surrounded by 18 Israeli gunboats demanding the crew turn back.

IDF spokesman denied that the army used any gunfire to the boat, adding that the crew of the boat had ignored different warnings from the Israeli navy.

"Israeli crew approached the boat Wednesday night, as it was suspicious of smuggling illegal supplies," he said.

The boat set sail from the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli on Monday night and headed for Gaza Wednesday morning after a stopover in Cyprus.

It was directed to al-Arish in Egypt initially, but the crew decided to try again to reach Gaza to challenge an Israeli siege of Gaza, according to army sources.