Houthi movement says it will continue to attack international shipping

The Yemen-based Houthi movement has said it will continue to target ships heading towards Israel after an attack by US and Britain in the early hours of Friday killed five of its members and wounded six.

On Friday evening, the British navy reported that a missile was fired at a vessel south of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden. No injuries or damage was reported.

Houthi officials condemned the US and British strikes, which they said were aimed at “protecting Israel” and “stopping Yemen’s support for Palestinians”.

US president Joe Biden called the attacks a “defensive action” after numerous Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, saying he will not hesitate to order further military action if needed.

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The latest escalation comes amid concern that the Gaza war could spill over into a wider regional conflagration.

“We’re not looking for conflict with Iran. We’re not looking to escalate and there’s no reason for it to escalate beyond what happened over the last few days,” US national security council spokesperson John Kirby said.

Forces of the US-led maritime coalition hit more than 60 targets at 16 Houthi militant locations in Yemen, US Air Forces central commander Lt Gen Alex Grynkewich said. The targets included unmanned aerial vehicles, surface vessels, cruise missiles and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities.

[ Houthi rebels say UK and US air strikes will not go without ‘punishment or retaliation’ ]

British prime minister Rishi Sunak said the strikes aimed to degrade Houthi military capabilities and safeguard global shipping. The attack was mounted with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.

Iran, which supplies the Houthi movement with military and financial support, condemned Friday’s attack as a breach of “Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and an attempt to distract people from Israel’s “crimes against the Palestinian people”.

In Yemen, crowds gathered in cities in response to the strikes. Drone footage broadcast on the Houthis’ al-Masirah TV channel showed hundreds of thousands of people in Sanaa carrying Palestinian and Yemeni flags and chanting slogans denouncing Israel and the US.

On day 98 of the Gaza war, fighting continued to focus on the southern city of Khan Younis. The Hamas-controlled health ministry reported that more than 23,700 Palestinians have at this stage of the current conflict been killed. According to Israeli officials, 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel when gunmen from Gaza infiltrated 22 communities, while 240 people were also seized and taken into captivity in Gaza.

[ Oil tops $80 a barrel after Houthi threat diverts tankers from Red Sea ]

Israel announced on Friday evening that medicine will be transferred to hostages in Gaza over the next few days. In return, Israel will allow more medicine to enter the Gaza Strip.

Although the level of violent clashes in northern Gaza has fallen dramatically, aid organisations are complaining that insufficient humanitarian supplies are reaching the estimated 300,000-400,000 residents in the area.

The United Nations humanitarian office said on Friday that Israeli authorities were systematically denying it access to northern Gaza to deliver aid, and this had significantly hindered the humanitarian operation there.

“We have systematic refusal from the Israeli side of our effort to get there, to access the north,” said Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

[ Analysis: US threats unlikely to dull Houthi support of Gaza ]

Israel has agreed in principle for a UN team to enter northern Gaza to assess conditions for the return of the more than one million residents who fled to the south to avoid the worst of the fighting, but no date has yet been set.

Efforts to achieve calm on Israel’s northern border received a setback on Friday when Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati said his country has informed all mediators that discussing a ceasefire only in Lebanon without including Gaza “makes no sense”.