Houthis: The ultimatum has expired, Israeli ships are our target again!

Yemen's Houthi rebels have warned that they will attack "any Israeli vessel" amid Israel's ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.

The Houthi warning has thrown the key sea route between Asia and Europe into chaos again, threatening revenues from Egypt's Suez Canal and likely causing a halt to aid deliveries to war zones.

In the past, the rebels' definition of Israeli ships has been quite broad, so other vessels have also been targeted, the AP recalls.

The statement by the Houthi Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center came at the end of a four-day deadline they had set for Israel to resume humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip.

"We hope it is clear that the actions taken by (the Houthis) stem from a deep sense of religious, humanitarian and moral responsibility to the oppressed Palestinian people and aim to pressure the Israeli usurper to reopen the crossings to the Gaza Strip and allow aid, including food and medical supplies, to enter," the statement said.

It specified that Israeli ships sailing in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Arabian Sea could be subject to armed attack.

From November 2023 to January this year, the Houthis attacked over a hundred merchant ships with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors.