The Houthis said that if aid cannot reach Gaza, attacks will escalate; Israeli officials: If the international community does not take measures against the Houthis, Israel will take action.
All ships bound for Israel will be attacked
On Saturday night (December 9) local time, the Yemeni Houthi armed forces issued a statement stating that if food and medicine cannot enter the Gaza Strip, any ship heading to Israel will become a "legitimate target" of the organization's armed forces (not nationality, regardless of whether the ownership of the ship is related to Israel).
The organization warned that all international shipping companies should avoid transactions with Israeli ports due to safety concerns on maritime navigation.
From their bases along the coast of Yemen, the Houthis cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a narrow maritime chokepoint between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, and are able to threaten shipping in the Red Sea. Most of the world's oil (including containers) flows through the Indian Ocean straits to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Biden administration has urged Israel not to respond to recent attacks by the Houthis to avoid triggering a broader regional conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
If tensions in the Red Sea continue to escalate, more container ships may be blocked. According to the latest report from Linerlytica, the intensification of attacks on ships in the Red Sea may cause 30% of the container fleet to get into trouble and need to be diverted.
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