Yahya Sarea, military spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, confirmed on Tuesday that the ban on the passage of Israeli vessels on the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Gulf of Aden will continue until the border crossings to the Gaza Strip are reopened and the delivery of essential food and medical supplies to the Palestinian people in Gaza is resumed.

Amid its new measures by decree, the US government designated last week the Houthi movement as an international terrorist organization.

The Houthis have taken over large areas in central, northern, and southern Yemen, including Sana’a, the capital, since 2014 after taking up arms against the Government, an event that sparked a civil war that currently continues.

They launched attacks on Israel-bound shipping through the Red Sea in November 2023, as a response to the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip.

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