JERUSALEM - The pro-Palestinian activists on the Gaza-bound French ship Dignite Al Karama said on Tuesday morning that they were pursued by Israeli navy.

"Three Israeli navy boats on left, another on the right, 500 meters away and closing," according to the Free Gaza Movement.

Israeli Ha'aretz daily, one of whose journalists is on board the boat, reported that the yacht is some 50 miles away from Gaza coast.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson's office told Xinhua that the navy is "closely monitoring" the lone-ship flotilla.

Despite the recent Gaza-bound flotilla's failure to set sail en masse from several Mediterranean ports, the Dignite Al Karama managed to set sail from the Greek island Kastellorizo Saturday evening, and headed to Gaza, in a symbolic act of protest against what the activists called "Israel's illegal blockade" on the Gaza strip.

Aboard the vessel are French, Canadian, Tunisian nationals. All of the other flotilla boats are still detained in Greek ports, two weeks after they had scheduled to sail.