SANAA (AFP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Tuesday said they would resume attacks on Israeli shipping after their deadline for the resumption of aid deliveries into Gaza expired.

The Houthis said they were “resuming the ban on the passage of all Israeli ships” in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Baba al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden after Israel failed to meet the four-day deadline the rebels set on Friday for the suspended aid deliveries to be restarted.

Israel blocked all aid into the war-battered territory just over a week ago in an effort to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages it took in its 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

An increasingly fragile truce was then further hit on Sunday when Israel announced it would cut off the electricity supply to a water desalination plant in Gaza, although Hamas announced on Tuesday that a fresh round of ceasefire talks had begun in Qatar.

The Houthis, who control much of the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, fired scores of drones and missiles at Israeli-linked and other shipping in the Red Sea during the Gaza war, until calling a halt when a ceasefire started in January.

The rebels said on Tuesday that the ban on Israeli shipping would “take effect from the time this statement is issued” and that “any Israeli ship attempting to violate this ban shall be targeted in the declared zone of operations.”

The attacks will continue until Israel allows aid deliveries in Gaza, the Houthis said.