Spokesman al-Bukhaiti said the Houthis would cease their support operations in Gaza when the truce took effect on Sunday.
Houthi rebels backed the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, with the Yemeni group’s spokesperson saying they would cease military operations against Israel as well as commercial shipping in the Red Sea if the truce comes into force on Sunday.
“If Israel ends aggression in Gaza, and the US, UK and Israel cease their aggression against Yemen, the Houthis will cease their operations, including attacks on navies and commercial ships” , Mohammed al-Bukhaiti told Tel Aviv Tribune on Saturday.
The UK and US have carried out numerous strikes against targets in Yemen to deter the Houthis. Washington has also imposed sanctions on this Iran-linked group.
Israel, however, continues to kill women and children (in Gaza), so the Houthis were forced to launch a missile attack, he said, apparently referring to the missile strike launched earlier on Saturday.
The Israeli military said it intercepted two missiles launched towards Israel from Yemen in the morning and afternoon. The morning one was aimed at central Israel, while the second was launched towards the south of the country, according to military statements.
The Houthis also announced that they had fired a missile towards central Israel in the morning. They have repeatedly stated that they will stop their attacks if Israel ends its military offensive in Gaza. The 15 months of relentless Israeli bombardment have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and turned Gaza into rubble.
Israel has bombed ports controlled by the Houthis, including Hodeidah, seen as a lifeline for the war-torn country, as well as power plants.
Houthis support Palestinians
The group has been launching rockets towards Israel since October 2024, in what it sees as a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Houthi rebels have also targeted navies and commercial ships linked to Israel and its allies passing through Bab al-Mandeb in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Israel justified its devastating military offensive by saying it was aimed at defeating the Hamas armed group, which carried out an attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed around 1,100 people. Palestinian fighters also captured some 250 people.
But Israel has been accused of war crimes and waging a genocidal war against the Palestinians by rights groups. In February 2024, the International Court of Justice declared that the Israeli offensive “likely” amounted to genocide. Israel has rejected these accusations.
Israel and Hamas announced a ceasefire agreement Wednesday that will end the 15-month war that devastated the Palestinian enclave, with nearly 90 percent of its 2.3 residents displaced and a significant number of ‘among them suffering from hunger.
A brief ceasefire in November 2023 saw the release of 110 Israeli captives and some 240 Palestinian prisoners.
In the first phase of this ceasefire, 33 Israeli captives will be released in exchange for nearly 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
But the Israeli army has stepped up its strikes on Gaza since the deal was announced, killing at least 123 people. The Israeli army said it carried out raids on 50 “terrorist targets” across Gaza on Friday.
The spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said the group was making final arrangements for the release of the captives, but that intensified Israeli bombardment risked killing them.
