HOUTHI military spokesman Yahya Sarea has said that the Yemeni Islamist movement was responsible for a series of drone attacks on the Israeli port of Eilat and “other areas in occupied Palestine.”

Eilat is in Israel proper according to the internationally recognised 1967 borders.

Mr Sarea said the Houthis, who have ruled most of Yemen since 2014, had also launched missiles at a vessel in the Red Sea after it rejected three warning calls.

Global container shipping firm MSC Mediterranean confirmed that the MSC United VIII had come came under attack on Tuesday while en route from Saudi Arabia to the Pakistani port of Karachi, but the crew was safe. 

The statement was issued several hours after Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations office in Dubai said it had received reports of an incident involving drones off the coast of Yemen.

The incident took place about 60 nautical miles outside the Yemeni port of Hodeida, the office said.

The incidents come amid high tensions in the Red Sea, where the Houthis have targeted commercial vessels accused of links to Israel.

The Shi’ite movement has reportedly launched more than 100 missile and drone attacks on commercial ships.

Houthi raids from Yemen have caused major disruptions on the Red Sea shipping route, causing a number of companies to redirect their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope on the tip of southern Africa, despite that route being longer and more expensive.

Last week, the United States announced that an international coalition would attempt to protect commercial shipping from such raids.

Although Operation Prosperity Guardian has failed to attract any support within the region, winning only muted responses from countries such as Britain and Canada, Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk said on Sunday that it would resume sending vessels through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.