Rear Admiral Rani Ben-Yehuda, Deputy Commander of Israel's navy, said 16 people, including two crew members, were brought to Israel after commandos boarded the "Dignite-Al-Karama" yacht in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean.

"The takeover was restrained and controlled without any injuries," Ben-Yehuda said.

The yacht had declared an Egyptian port as its destination when it left Greek waters on July 17, but sailed toward the Palestinian enclave, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.

It had planned to sail to Gaza as part of a flotilla carrying activists and aid, but other vessels were prevented from sailing after docking in Greece. Activists accused the Greek government of intervening on Israel's side.

At least two of the passengers were of Israeli origin: activist Dror Feiler and Haaretz newspaper reporter Amira Hass.