India-bound ship hijacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea: Report

A cargo ship going from Turkey to India has been hijacked by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. There are about 50 crew members from different countries on board the ship.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, there is no Indian on "Galaxy Leader".

Confirming the hijacking, the Israeli Defense Forces posted on Twitter - "The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very serious incident for the world. The ship had left Turkey for India. "Citizens from different countries are employed in it. There are no Israelis involved in it. It is not an Israeli ship."

"Israel strongly condemns the Iranian attack against an international ship. The ship is owned by a British company and is being operated by a Japanese firm," Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's office wrote in a post on Twitter. It was hijacked by the Yemenite Houthi militia under the guidance of Iran."

"We took an Israeli cargo ship off the Yemeni coast," news agency AFP quoted a Houthi official as saying. A source in the coastal city of Hodeida said the ship had been moved to the port city of Salif, AFP reported.

"There are 25 crew members of various nationalities on board, including Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Filipino and Mexican. There are no Israelis on board," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office posted.

"The Bahamian-flagged ship is registered under a British company. It is partly owned by Israeli tycoon Abraham Ungar. The ship is leased to a Japanese company," The Times of Israel reports.

The Iran-backed Houthis have vowed to target Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea. "Yemeni armed forces... confirm that they will continue to use effective means with missiles and drones until Israeli aggression ceases," said a Houthi military statement broadcast on the rebels' al-Masirah TV earlier this month.

The Houthis captured Yemen's capital Sanaa in 2014 and took control over large parts of the country. Earlier they had carried out attacks in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, after which a military operation was launched against the rebels.