Containers are seen on the Maersk Gibraltar container ship in the port of Algeciras, Spain, on January 19, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

Sanaa, December 16 (RHC)-- Yemen's Armed Forces have said they have conducted a successful operation against a container ship headed for the occupied territories, calling the attack a move taken in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who are subject to a genocidal Israeli war.   

The forces' spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced the development on Thursday, identifying the targeted vessel as Maersk Gibraltar.  "The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of God Almighty, carried out a military operation against the Maersk Gibraltar container ship, which was heading to the Israeli entity. It was targeted by a drone and the hit was direct," the official said.

Saree said the operation came after the ship's crew refused to respond to warnings that had been issued by the Yemeni naval forces.

The Armed Forces have vowed to target any vessel that may use the country's territorial waters to head towards the occupied territories until the Israeli regime relieves its siege of Gaza.

"The Yemeni armed forces confirm that they continue to prevent all ships heading to Israeli ports from navigating in the Arab and Red Seas until they bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need," Saree likewise said.

A Yemeni government official says the only way for calm to prevail in the Red Sea is a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.  The siege is taking a heavy toll on the Palestinians in Gaza, who have been enduring the war since October 7th.

Also on Thursday, Gaza's Health Ministry said nearly 18,800 people, mostly women and children, had been killed in the war that the regime started following an operation staged by the Palestinian territory's resistance movements.

The Yemeni official described the drone attack as "a victory for the oppressed Palestinian people, who are currently being subjected to killing, destruction, and siege in the Gaza Strip, and a response to the calls of the free Yemeni people."

A senior Hamas member says Yemeni retaliatory strikes against ships heading to the Israeli-occupied territories send the message that the West must either stop the Gaza genocide or expect the crisis to expand across the region.   He also noted that the Yemeni forces had succeeded in preventing the passage of several ships bound for the occupied territories during the past 48 hours.