Yemen’s Houthi forces claim to have seized Israeli cargo ship in Red Sea, Israel denies ownership

Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed to have seized an Israeli cargo ship in the southern Red Sea on Sunday, but Israel denied ownership of the vessel and said there were no Israelis among its crew.

“The Houthis conducted a military operation in the Red Sea. We seized an Israeli ship and brought it to the Yemeni coast,” said Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea on Sunday.

Renewing the group’s threat to target all ships belonging to or dealing with Israel, Sarea called on “all countries whose citizens work in the Red Sea to stop any activity with Israeli ships or ships rented by Israelis.”

Hours earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the Houthis took control of the cargo ship near Yemen in the southern Red Sea, adding that the vessel was heading from Türkiye to India. IDF warned that the hijacking was “a very grave incident of global consequence.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday that the vessel was operated by a Japanese company, which leased it from a British company.

The PM’s office claimed that the ship was seized by the Iran-backed Houthi forces at the request of Iran. Iran has yet to respond to the accusations.

The detained cargo ship is registered to a British company, with partial ownership linked to an Israeli entrepreneur, according to media reports.

Since the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict at the beginning of October, Houthi forces have launched several attacks directed at Israel from Yemen using drones and missiles.

The IDF has deployed additional ships in the Red Sea to deal with threats from the Houthis.

The Houthis controls much of Yemen’s north, including the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah since the Yemeni civil war erupted in late 2014.