Cargo ship is ‘hijacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels’ in the Red Sea – after Iran-backed militia vowed to target Israeli-linked vessels

Houthi rebels from Yemen have hijacked a cargo ship with up 22 crew members in the Red Sea in a ‘grave incident on a global level’.

The Bahaman-flagged ‘Galaxy Leader’ was boarded by armed men as it travelled south past the Arabian peninsula on its way to India.

The ship is registered under a British company which is partially owned by Israeli tycoon Abraham Ungar, and is currently leased out to a Japanese company, according to reports.

It came hours after the Iranian-backed Houthi militia – which has fought a bloody civil war against the Yemeni government since the 1990s – vowed to target ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea in retaliation for the Jewish state’s response to the October 7 attacks.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have confirmed there are no Israeli citizens on board and denied the ship was Israeli, but called it a ‘grave incident’. 

According to the most recent publicly-available tracking data, the ship was last seen to the east of Port Sudan on Saturday

In a statement released on social media it said: ‘ The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very grave incident of global consequence. 

‘The ship departed Turkey on its way to India, staffed by civilians of various nationalities, not including Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship.’

It is reported that the nationalities on board the ship include Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Filipinos and Mexicans.

According to publicly-available tracking data, the ship’s last known location was east of Port Sudan in the Red Sea on Saturday. 

Last week the leader of the Houthis, an Islamist movement which has fired a number of missiles towards Israel in recent weeks, warned they would make further attacks on the Jewish state. 

Abdulmalik al-Houthi said: ‘Our eyes are open to constantly monitor and search for any Israeli ship in the Red Sea, especially in Bab al-Mandab, and near Yemeni regional water.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran for the hijacking, but provided no evidence it had been seized on Iranian orders.

In a statement issued this afternoon, he said ‘We strongly condemn the Iranian attack against an international ship’, seemingly referring to the Houthis Iranian backing.

Israeli Defence Forces said the hijacking of the ship was a ‘very grave incident of global consequence’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident an ‘act of Iranian terrorism’, seemingly linking the nation to the Houthi rebels who hijacked the ship

The Houthi leader Abdul Malek Badr al-Dain al-Houthi warned last week his troops would continue to target Israel

The Houthi movement has ben supportive of Hamas since the outbreak of violence in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks

‘The ship, owned by a British company and operated by a Japanese company, was hijacked on Iranian whim by the Houthi militia in Yemen.

‘On board the ship are 25 crew members of different nationalities, including: Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Filipinos and Mexicans.

‘No Israelis were present on the ship.

‘This is another act of Iranian terrorism which expresses a leap forward in Iran’s aggression against the citizens of the free world, and creates international implications regarding the security of global shipping lanes,’ the statement concluded.

In Yemen, Iran backs and supplies the Houthis, a Shiite faction that has been at war against a Saudi-led Sunni coalition in the country since 2015.

The Houthis have emerged as a major military force in the Arabian Peninsula, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and armed drones.

The movement emerged in the 1990s and has the slogan ‘God is great, death to the US, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam’.

Since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Houthis have launched at least six missile attacks against Israel and its allies.

It comes as Israel continues its military operation in Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks by Hamas which claimed more than 1,200 lives.

Since then the IDF has pounded the Palestinian territory with airstrikes and launched a ground invasion in an attempt to crush the militant group, but it has drawn criticism from international observers for what some see as heavy-handed tactics.

More than 11,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian health authorities. A further 2,700 have been reported missing, believed buried under rubble. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants; Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.