Yemen’s Houthis will continue their military operations and escalate them in quality and quantity in support of Palestinians in Israel’s war in Gaza, the Iran-backed group’s leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Thursday.

The group have been attacking ships in the Red Sea region since November, forcing shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa. The group later expanded the scope of its attacks to the Indian Ocean and said it would also target any ships heading towards Israeli ports in the Mediterranean Sea.

Source: Reuters reported by Nayera Abdallah and Ahmed Tolba and edited by Toby Chopra