The head of the Lebanese Olympic delegation has reportedly been rebuked for an altercation with Israeli athletes over transport to the opening ceremony.

Israeli athletes were blocked from boarding a bus packed with Lebanese athletes in Rio de Janeiro on Friday in what the head of the Israeli delegation, Gili Lusting, construed as an aggressive gesture.

Lusting said organisers had told them to take the bus to the Maracanã stadium, and that alternative transport was arranged only in response to antagonism from Salim al-Haj Nakoula, the Lebanon chef de mission.

“The organising committee saw the blunt behaviour of the head of the Lebanese delegation and immediately arranged a different bus for us,” Lusting said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The behaviour of the head of the Lebanese delegation contradicts the Olympic charter.”

Lebanon and Israel are officially at war and have no diplomatic relations.

Nakoula said the bus had been reserved for the Lebanese delegation and that he had the right to prevent another team boarding.

He reportedly told Lebanese media the Israeli delegation had been “looking for trouble” and had their own designated bus to take them to the Games. “Why did they want to board a bus with the Lebanese delegation?” he reportedly said.

The two teams were eventually taken to the ceremony in separate buses.

Nakoula told Associated Press it was only a small problem. “This problem is finished,” he said by telephone. “We are here only for sports.”

The Israeli sailing coach, Udi Gal, posted an emotional update in Hebrew to Facebook on Friday night in which he decried Nakoula’s behaviour as going against the spirit of the Games.

According to the English translation of his post given by the Israeli news source Ynetnews, Gal wrote that he was surprised organisers gave in to pressure to organise separate transport for the two teams.

“How is it that they let something like this happen, and on the opening night of the Olympic Games? Isn’t this the opposite of what the Olympics represent and [don’t the actions of the Lebanese delegation] work against it?

“I cannot describe the way I feel. I’m enraged and shocked by this event.”

Gal said in a follow-up post in English and Hebrew on Saturday he had been saddened by the incident before the Games, and touched by the subsequent show of support.

He noted that, before the opening ceremony was held, Israeli Olympians had participated in a memorial ceremony for Munich Olympic athletes.

“We are here as a delegation athletes, here to represent their nation through sports, not politics. The Israeli delegation includes many outstanding athletes, who are first and foremost human beings.

“This shameful incident has only motivated us. The Olympic spirit is the most important thing and we’re here to protect it and carry it with pride.”

Miri Regev, the Israeli culture and sport minister, reportedly labelled the Lebanese athletes’ refusal to share transport the “worst kind of racism” and called on the International Olympic Committee to condemn the incident.

“It is antisemitism pure and simple, and the worst kind of racism,” she told Israel Radio. “The [International] Olympic Committee, which champions the separation of sports and politics, must condemn this vehemently and work to ensure that such behaviour is not repeated.”

Several Israeli news outlets have reported that the IOC rebuked Nakoula at a hearing on Sunday, and warned him told that further such altercations would not be tolerated.

• This article was amended on 10 August 2016 to include reports the Lebanon team was rebuked by the IOC.