The Houthis say they will free the crew of the cargo ship they hijacked 14 months ago

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Wednesday they will free the crew of the commercial ship Galaxy Leader, which they hijacked in the Red Sea 14 months ago, to support Hamas in its war against Israel.

The decision follows an announcement by the Iran-backed rebel group on Sunday that it would scale back its attacks if a truce in the Gaza conflict that came into force at the weekend is reached.

The Houthis took the Galaxy Leader to the Yemeni port of Al Hudaydah and have been holding its crew hostage ever since. This was reported by the World Cargo News website in November 25 man crew Citizens of the Philippines, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Mexico and Romania were included.

Senior Houthi official Nasser Al-Din Amer said on social media that the arrested crew members would be released on Wednesday. Yemen’s rebel-linked Al-Masirah TV channel said the decision was made by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi and was coordinated with Hamas and mediated by Oman.

The release could not be independently verified.

The Galaxy Leader, designed to carry vehicles, flies under the flag of the Bahamas and was shown to be “moored” in the Red Sea and out of satellite navigation range on Wednesday. According to MarineTraffica ship tracking software and website that provides real-time information about ships worldwide.

The seizure of a ship from Turkey to India was one of the most common daring naval operations It came at the start of a campaign by the Houthis and in support of Hamas, which led to the war in Gaza by attacking Israel on October 7, 2023.

At the time, the Houthis threatened to target Israeli-flagged, Israeli-owned and operated ships transiting the Red Sea. After the capture of the Galaxy Leader, a Houthi spokesman announced that the hijacking was a show of support for the “oppressed Palestinian people”.

Although the Israeli military says there were no Israelis on board the Galaxy Leader, it appears that Israeli billionaire Rami Ungar was at one point the beneficial owner of the company that owned the ship. a major leak of classified documents In 2017, he revealed the hidden world of wealth and ownership. A beneficial owner of a company is a person who controls it, owns more than a quarter of it, or receives a significant economic benefit from it.

The Houthis’ campaign against Israel has halted maritime traffic on one of the world’s most important shipping routes, forcing many ships to make longer journeys around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.

In recent months, the group has also carried out a series of rocket attacks on Israel. Most of the missiles were intercepted before they reached Israeli territory, but the Israeli military responded with a series of airstrikes on rebel-linked targets in Yemen.

The spokesman of the Houthis, Muhammad Abdulsalam, said this social media said that even after the cease-fire on Sunday, supporting the Palestinian cause will remain a top priority. The Houthis said they would stop targeting all ships after “full implementation of all phases” of the ceasefire agreement. But they said they would continue to target ships owned by Israeli individuals or entities, or ships flying the Israeli flag.

But dated Sunday and a. in an email sent by A group linked to the Houthis The Houthis, who have been linked to the shipping industry, have warned that if the US or Britain directly attack Yemen, they will continue to attack ships linked to those countries.