Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Claims To Seize Isreal Cargo Ship In Red Sea

Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, known as the Houthis, claim to have taken control of a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea and brought it to a port in Yemen. The ship was identified as an Israeli vessel by the group.

Aware that regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas conflict are escalating onto the maritime front, the Israeli military stated on Sunday that the cargo ship was hijacked in the southern Red Sea when it was traveling from Turkey to India.

The Israeli military said the vessel is not Israeli-owned, calling the hijacking “a very grave incident on a global level” in a social media post.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the ship is handled by Japan and owned by Britain. It has 25 crew members of different nationalities, but no Israelis.

All ships that are owned, run, or fly the Israeli flag, according to a Houthi group spokesman early on Sunday, could be targeted.

Public shipping databases revealed ownership information linking the ship’s owners to Ray Car Carriers, one of the wealthiest individuals in Israel, Abraham “Rami” Ungar’s founding company.

Ungar acknowledged the event to The Associated Press, but he was waiting on further information before he could comment.

“We are treating the ship’s crew in accordance with Islamic principles and values,” a spokesperson of Yemen’s Houthi Rebels said in a statement.

A ship linked to Ungar experienced an explosion in 2021 in the Gulf of Oman. Israeli media blamed it on Iran at the time.

Netanyahu’s office condemned the seizure of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier, calling it “another Iranian act of terrorism that represents an escalation in Iran’s belligerence against the citizens of the free world, with concomitant international ramifications vis-à-vis the security of global shipping routes.”

According to U.S. officials, the hijackers came down on the ship’s deck from a helicopter.

The attack off the coast of Yemen comes just days after the Houthis issued a graphic with captions in Hebrew, Arabic, and English saying, “We will sink your ships.” The graphic showed an Israeli commercial ship on fire.

On Nov. 16, the International Maritime Security Construct, an international group that tries to maintain security in regional waters, issued a warning to all mariners in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti to stay as far away from Yemeni waters as possible and recommended travel at night whenever possible.

A U.S. Defense official said, “We’re aware of the situation and are monitoring it closely.”