Yemen's Houthis to celebrate football win aboard seized Israeli vessel

Yemen's Houthis are preparing to celebrate a win by the country's junior national football team on the Israel-linked Galaxy Leader vessel, which was seized by the rebels last month.

Yemen's Al-Ahmar Al-Yamani team won on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia at the final of the West Asian Federation Junior Championship in Oman.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, member of the Supreme Political Council and former head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, announced that the Houthi-run Ministry of Youth and Sports was preparing to celebrate upon the team's return.

One of the celebrations will be held aboard the cargo ship with raised Yemeni and Palestinian flags, he said in a post on X.

"The preparations will be made in a manner befitting [the team], or it could be one of the honouring events for them should they wish," he said.

Yemen's rebels siezed the Israel-linked Galaxy Leader on 19 November, and warned that all vessels crossing the Red Sea linked to Israel would "become a legitimate target for armed forces". 

The cargo ship, which now docks at Hodeidah, has been a tourist destination for thousands of people from several Yemeni provinces.

The Houthis have threatened to target Israeli vessels in the waterway over Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed over 20,000 people, mostly women and children.

Separately, the rebel group said it would not halt attacks on ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, despite the United States announcing a new maritime protection force to counter them.

"Even if America succeeds in mobilising the entire world, our military operations will not stop … no matter the sacrifices it costs us," Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, said in a post on X on Tuesday.

The Houthis would only halt their attacks if Israel’s "crimes in Gaza stop and food, medicines and fuel are allowed to reach its besieged population", al-Bukhaiti said.