Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed duty for a missile strike on the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht within the Gulf of Aden, marking one in all their most critical assaults on delivery exterior the Pink Sea since November 2023.The assault occurred on Monday and concerned a cruise missile, in accordance with Houthi navy spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree, who mentioned the strike focused the vessel over alleged violations of “the entry ban to the ports of occupied Palestine” by the ship’s homeowners, Amsterdam-based Spliethoff, reported information company AP. The rebels said the operation was “in response to the crimes of genocide and hunger perpetrated by the Zionist enemy towards our folks within the Gaza Strip, and to affirm the continued ban on Israeli maritime site visitors within the Pink and Arabian Seas”, in accordance with the Occasions of Israel.The strike injured two crew members and compelled the evacuation of all 19 sailors, hailing from the Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine, after the ship caught fireplace and was left adrift, in accordance with the European naval pressure working within the area, Operation Aspides.The US Navy-overseen Joint Maritime Data Centre initially reported that the Minervagracht had no ties to Israel, although a follow-up observe mentioned the centre was “reviewing vessel affiliations for doable hyperlinks to Israel”.The assault highlights the Houthis’ widening marketing campaign towards delivery, which has already focused over 100 vessels and Israel in response to the continued struggle in Gaza. Whereas a few of their strikes have hit targets with tenuous or no direct hyperlinks to Israel, the marketing campaign has disrupted maritime site visitors within the Pink Sea—a hall for roughly $1 trillion in items yearly previous to the struggle—and has killed at the very least eight mariners and sunk 4 ships over the previous two years.Monday’s assault signifies the group’s increasing operational attain within the Gulf of Aden, removed from their standard Pink Sea strikes, and comes amid heightened tensions within the Center East following renewed Israeli floor operations in Gaza and UN sanctions on Iran.