According to reports, on April 24th local time, Yahya Sare’e, a spokesperson for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, announced that the Houthi naval forces had attacked several American and Israeli vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

The statement claims that the Houthi naval forces successfully targeted the American container ship “Maersk Yorktown” sailing in the Gulf of Aden, with missiles hitting the ship precisely.

The Houthi rebels also declared attacks on another Israeli container ship “MSC Veracruz” sailing in the Indian Ocean, and an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden. Both attacks reportedly hit their targets.

Yahya Sare’e stated that the rebels used missiles and drones to attack the aforementioned vessels, although he did not disclose the specific times of these three attacks or the name of the American destroyer involved.

It is reported that the “Maersk Yorktown” had 18 American and 4 Greek crew members on board at the time of the attack.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) also issued a report on the ship attacks.

The UKMTO report stated that a commercial ship incident occurred 72 nautical miles southeast of Djibouti, where the captain of MAERSK YORKTOWN reported an explosion in the water not far from the ship, but the ship and crew were reported safe.

The container ship MAERSK YORKTOWN, built in 2004, has a capacity of 2096 TEU and flies the American flag. It is currently deployed by Maersk on the Seychelles-Djibouti route.

The container ship MSC VERACRUZ, built in 2005, has a capacity of 5060 TEU and flies the flag of the Madeira Islands, Portugal. It is currently deployed by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) on the East Coast USA-India route.

Since November last year, the Houthi rebels have attacked over 80 commercial ships, causing a significant rerouting of maritime traffic from Asia to Europe. According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), from mid-December to early April, the volume of shipping through the Suez Canal decreased by 66%.

In their latest statement, the Houthi rebels indicated that they will continue to prevent Israeli ships from sailing to or toward the occupied Palestinian ports in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean until the aggression stops and the blockade on Gaza is lifted.