The Yemeni Houthis free the crew of the seized ship after the agreement on the ceasefire in Gaza News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Houthis have warned that they will continue to attack international commercial ships if Israel violates the Gaza ceasefire.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have freed the crew of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship they seized shortly after Israel’s war on Gaza began.
The Iran-linked group said in a statement on Wednesday that the 25-member crew of Filipinos, Mexicans, Romanians, Bulgarians and Ukrainians who had spent 430 days in captivity were flown to Oman on the orders of Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi.
The group’s Supreme Political Council said the announcement was made “in coordination with the Hamas movement and with the mediation of the Sultanate of Oman.”
It happened “in the framework of the battle to support Gaza and support the ceasefire agreement”, the council said.
The Galaxy Leader was hijacked by armed Houthi fighters who disembarked from a helicopter and escorted it to a Yemeni port in November 2023. The Bahamian-flagged ship is linked to Abraham “Rami” Ungar, one of the richest men in Israel.
United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said the move was “a step in the right direction.”
“The release of the Galaxy Leader crew is heartbreaking news that puts an end to the arbitrary detention and separation they and their families have endured for over a year,” he wrote on X.
“This is a step in the right direction and I call on Ansar Allah [the Houthis] continue these positive steps on all fronts, including the cessation of all naval attacks.”
Since November 2023, the Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, along with some in the Mediterranean Sea. The group said it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October 2023. The attacks sank two ships and killed at least four people.
The group has also directly attacked Israel, with some missiles passing through anti-missile defenses or being partially intercepted, leading to limited casualties.
After the Houthi attack on the ships, the United States and the United Kingdom launched a barrage of airstrikes on what they said were Houthi targets in Yemen.
The Israeli military also launched multiple rounds airstrikes on several Yemeni governorates since the middle of last year, killing Houthis and civilians and targeting oil depots, ports, power plants and other critical infrastructure.
Julien Harneis, the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, told a UN meeting on Tuesday that the use the critical port of Hodeidah it dropped to only 25 percent capacity due to Israeli attacks.
“[The] The impact of the airstrikes on the port of Hodeidah, especially in recent weeks, is very important,” Harneis said, adding that four of the five tugboats needed to escort large ships into the port were sunk.
After a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas took effect in Gaza on Sunday, the Houthis said they would limit their attacks on commercial vessels to ships linked to Israel.
Al-Houthi, the group’s leader, said in his first televised speech since the ceasefire that the Yemeni group remains “ready to escalate” if Israel violates the agreement.
