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Ship seized by Houthi in Gulf of Aden is not Israeli, now Israelis among crew – IDF

According to the Israel Defense Forces, this is a very serious global event

TEL AVIV, November 19. /TASS/. The Galaxy Leader cargo ship that was captured by the Houthi in the Gulf of Aden is not an Israeli ship and there are no Israelis among its crewmembers, the Israeli Defense Forces (IFD) said on Sunday.

"The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very grave incident of global consequence. The ship departed Turkey on its way to India, staffed by civilians of various nationalities, not including Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship," it stressed.

The Al Hadath television channel reported earlier on Sunday, citing its sources, that the Yemeni rebel movement Ansar Allah (the Houthi) has hijacked the Israeli cargo ship Galaxy Leader in the Gulf of Aden. According to the Al Hadath sources, the ship has a crew of 22, with their citizenship not specified. The Al Mayadeen television channel said, however, that the ship had been seized in the Red Sea and its crew included 52 people.

According to the Marine Traffic, a maritime analytics provider, which provides real-time information on the movements of ships, the vessel was flying the flag of the Bahamas. Both television channels, however, said that the ship belong to Israel.

The ship reported its current location at 01:04 p.m. local time (10:04 a.m. GMT) for the last time. It was in the central part of the Red Sea at the moment. Currently, the Galaxy Leader’s transponders are switched off.