The Israeli army stepped up its military offensive in Gaza on Saturday, saying it was aimed at ‘the defeat of Hamas’ — the Islamist group that runs the Palestinian territory.
Yemenis lift flags of Yemen and Palestine during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians and the Gaza Strip and in condemnation of Israel and the U.S., in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa on May 16, 2025.
Photograph courtesy of Mohammed Huwais/AFP
SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Monday that they would imposed a “naval blockade” of the Israeli port of Haifa in response to Israel’s escalation of the Gaza war.
The Houthis would “begin working to enforce a naval blockade of the port of Haifa,” said military spokesperson Yehya Saree.
“All companies with ships present in or heading to this port are hereby notified that, as of the time of this announcement, the aforementioned port has been included in the target bank,” the Houthi spokesperson added.
The move was “in response to the Israeli enemy’s escalation of its brutal aggression against our people and in Gaza,” he said, adding that attacks on Israel would “cease once the aggression on Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced earlier that his country will “take control” of all of Gaza as part of a heightened offensive against Hamas.
The Iran-backed Houthis have regularly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, following a Hamas attack on Israel.
On Friday, Israel threatened to target Houthi leaders after Israeli fighter jets struck two rebel-held ports. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Houthi leaders that if missile attacks continue, they face the same fate as Hamas leaders slain by Israel in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 44 people on Tuesday across the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, where Israel has intensified a military offensive aimed at crushing Hamas.
Aid trickled into the Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time in more than two months, following intense international condemnation over Israel’s total blockade that has sparked shortages of food and medicine.
The Israeli army stepped up its military offensive in Gaza on Saturday, saying it was aimed at “the defeat of Hamas” — the Islamist group that runs the Palestinian territory.
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