Houthi rebels in Yemen said they hijacked an Israeli merchant ship in the Red Sea on Sunday and diverted it to the Yemeni coast, a Houthi leader said, while the Israeli military denied it was an Israeli vessel.
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“We have taken control of an Israeli cargo ship,” the Houthi leader told AFP on condition of anonymity, indicating an official statement would be released later.
A maritime source from the rebel-held port of Hodeida (west) said that “the Houthis seized a merchant ship and took it to the port of Al-Salif in Hodeida.”
AFP
The Israeli army, for its part, denied that it was an Israeli ship.
“The ship left Turkey for India. There were civilians of various nationalities on board, but no Israelis. “It is not an Israeli ship,” the army stressed.
Houthi rebels threatened to attack Israeli ships in the Red Sea on Tuesday after claiming several attacks against Israel, which was at war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis, who control the Yemeni capital Sanaa, are “part of the axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes Iranian-backed groups such as the Palestinian Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
AFP
In a statement from his office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “strongly condemned the Iranian attack on an international ship.”
“The ship, owned by a British company and operated by a Japanese company, was hijacked by Yemen’s Houthi militia on the orders of Iran,” the statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office said.
“There are 25 crew members of various nationalities on board the ship, including Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Filipinos and Mexicans. There are no Israelis on board. “This is a new act of Iranian terrorism and a step forward in Iran’s aggression against the citizens of the free world, with international consequences for the security of the world’s sea lanes,” the statement continued.