Only peace in Gaza can ease Red Sea tensions: Yemeni official

A Yemeni government official says the only way for calm to prevail in the Red Sea is a permanent ceasefire in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip as tensions heighten in the strategic maritime route.

Abdul Malik al-Ajri, a member of the political bureau of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement, made the remarks on Wednesday after the US announced plans to establish a maritime task force in the Red Sea to protect the passage of vessels bound for the Israeli-occupied territories.

“If all of the world’s naval fleets sail to the Red Sea and gather there, they will provide security neither for Israel nor for the regime’s ships and the vessels destined for occupied Palestine,” he added.

“There is no way to prevent the escalation of tensions except through a permanent ceasefire in Gaza… The only way to return calm to the Red Sea is to establish peace in Gaza.”

On Tuesday, the Yemeni Army struck a Norwegian-flagged commercial tanker with a missile as the vessel was in the Red Sea heading towards an Israeli port to offload its cargo.

The Yemeni operation on the tanker Strinda took place about 100 kilometers north of the Bab el-Mandab Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Spokesman for Yemen’s Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree described the strike as “a victory for the oppressed Palestinian people.”

In retaliation for the bloody Israeli onslaught against Gaza, Yemen had earlier warned that it considers any ships with owners linked to Israel or those going to and from ports in the occupied territories legitimate targets.

Last month, the Yemeni Armed Forces seized a vehicle transport ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. They still hold the vessel near the port city of Hudaydah.

They also launched drone and missile strikes targeting the occupied territories in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel waged the brutal war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 18,608 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 50,594 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.