middle East
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Since the start of the war between the Israeli government and Hamas, Yemeni rebels have threatened to attack any ship heading to or connected to Israel and have carried out increasingly daring operations. An Israeli billionaire's cargo ship has been hijacked since November 19th.
The Galaxy Leader, a blue and white roll-on/roll-off cargo ship measuring 189 meters long and 32 meters wide, has become a tourist attraction. Yemenis accompany him in a fishing boat from the port of Al-Salif near Al-Hodeida in the Red Sea. You can walk across the bridge, step on the Israeli and American flags displayed there, and take photos. The Galaxy Leader's 25 crew members are still hostages.
The ship was hijacked by Houthi rebels on November 19. The helicopter operation, in which black-clad fighters landed on the bridge, was filmed and broadcast on social networks. “The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces conducted a military operation in the Red Sea, the result of which was the seizure of an Israeli ship and its transfer to the Yemeni coast,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said at the time. on X (formerly Twitter). On November 21, the cargo ship was spotted by the company Masae Analytics in the port of Al-Hodeida. He hasn't moved much since then. Its Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder, which was turned on again for the first time on Tuesday, places it just south of Al-Salif.
For the Houthis, anti-Semitic and anti-American, it is an operation based on “responsibility.”