US Navy helicopters sank three vessels operated by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels that had attacked a container ship in the Red Sea, the military said Sunday.
After the Houthis fired on the US helicopters, they “returned fire in self-defence, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the area,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have disrupted world trade for weeks with attacks on ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea in what they say is a response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Maersk has paused sailing through the Red Sea for 48 hours after Houthi militants attacked one of the company’s container vessels.
The attack was the latest by Houthi militants in Yemen, who have been targeting vessels in The Red Sea to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza.US Navy helicopters sank the boats used by the militants to attack the Maersk Hangzhou vessel, the US military said.
The crew aboard the Maersk ship reported a flash on deck on Dec 30, when the vessel was 55 nautical miles southwest of Al Hodeidah.
Helicopters from the USS Eisenhower and USS Gravely, responding to distress calls from Maersk Hangzhou, returned fire on the Houthi boats in self-defence and sank three of the vessels, with no survivors, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
The Maersk Hangzhou crew was safe and there was no indication of fire onboard the vessel. The ship continued its journey north to Port Suez.Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retake control of the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt.
The Israeli Prime Minister said the Philadelphi Corridor buffer zone that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt must be in Israeli hands.“It must be shut,” Netanyahu said. “It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarisation that we seek.”
Such a move by Israel would be a de facto reversal of its 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, placing the enclave under exclusive Israeli control after years being run by Hamas.
Netanyahu’s comments about the buffer zone came as Israeli military forces pressed ahead with an offensive that the prime minister reiterated will last “for many more months.”International mediators – who last month brokered a one-week truce that saw more than 100 hostages released and some aid enter Gaza – are continuing in their efforts to secure a new pause in fighting.
US news outlet Axios and Israeli website Ynet, both citing unnamed Israeli officials, reported that Qatari mediators had told Israel that Hamas was prepared to resume talks on new hostage releases in exchange for a ceasefire.
A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Friday to discuss an Egyptian plan proposing renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and ultimately an end to the war, sources close to Hamas said.
Islamic Jihad, another armed group fighting alongside Hamas, said on Saturday that Palestinian factions were “in the process” of evaluating the Egyptian proposal.
A response will come “within days”, the group’s chief negotiator, Muhammad al-Hindi, said.Asked about the negotiations on Saturday, Netanyahu said Hamas had been “giving all kinds of ultimatums that we didn’t accept”.
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