Israeli warships on September 28 intercepted the boat named "Irene" 20 nautical miles off the coast of the Gaza Strip, and took it to the port of Ashdod in southern Israel.

Attorney Smadar Ben-Natan said "two English and an American" were at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport awaiting flights and the other, a woman, was being kept in custody overnight.

"We shall only be able to see her tomorrow," she told AFP, without identifying the foreigners or saying why one was still being detained.

She said five Israeli nationals who sailed with the four foreigners on the Irene had been released without being charged pending further inquiries.

Organizers Jews for Justice for Palestinians listed on their website Briton Glyn Secker as the vessel's captain and a member of its executive committee and named US peace activist Lillian Rosengarten as one of the passengers.

In May, Israeli forces intercepted a six-ship flotilla heading for Gaza but the raid went badly wrong and nine Turkish activists -- including one with US citizenship -- were killed, prompting a wave of international condemnation.

AFP