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Houthi Forces Threaten to Resume Attacks on Shipping

Sounion attack
File image courtesy Houthi Military Media

Published Mar 10, 2025 3:44 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Yemen's Houthi rebels have set a deadline for Israel to lift its blockade on food aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, and have pledged to resume attacks on shipping on Tuesday if the demand is not met. 

On March 2, Israel shut down international food aid convoys to Gaza in order to apply more pressure on the terrorist group Hamas, which continues to hold 24 living Israeli hostages and 34 deceased hostages' remains. The cutoff of aid affects Gazans at a population level, as the destruction of the territory has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival.

Last weekend, Israel cut off electricity supplies to Gaza's sole desalination plant at Deir el-Balah, which supplies water to about 600,000 displaced people. The plant has recourse to generators and to solar power, but the loss of a utility grid connection makes its future (and the local water supply) more tenuous. A spokesman for the terror group Hamas accused Israel of committing "collective punishment and a full-fledged war crime" by withholding food, water and electricity.

Yemen's Houthi rebel faction - backed by Iran - agreed to cease its attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in January when Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement. Given the recent breakdown in the ceasefire arrangement, the Houthis warned Friday that attacks in the Red Sea could resume imminently if Israel does not restore access for food trucks in Gaza. 

Houthi militants have been attempting to rearm after more than a year of constant engagement with U.S. forces in the Red Sea, and have sought to supplement Iranian-supplied weaponry with a new Russian government supply relationship. Russia, which has been working to renew its diplomatic ties with the United States, has reportedly been in talks to provide the Houthis with the P-800 Oniks supersonic antiship missile - a munition that Soviet ngineers designed to attack U.S. Navy destroyers, like the ones that engage with Houthi forces in the Red Sea.