BEIRUT (AP): Organizers say a boat carrying international peace activists to the embattled Gaza Strip is now headed to Lebanon after it was turned back by an Israeli naval boat.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor says the boat ignored an order from the navy to turn back early Tuesday.

Palmor says the boat tried to outmaneuver a navy ship and crashed into it, lightly damaging both vessels.

Protest boat organizer Derek Graham says the Israeli ship ``rammed'' the protest boat, called the SS Dignity.

Graham says the vessel is now ``limping'' toward southern Lebanon because of engine trouble.

Gaza is currently in the throes of a massive Israeli offensive targeting Hamas militants which control the Gaza Strip.