Houthis Ready to Escalate Attacks

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of western Yemen including the capital, are ready to mount attacks on Israel if it resumes its assault on Gaza and does not commit to the ceasefire deal, the group's leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said on Tuesday.

The Houthis had attacked Israeli and other vessels in the Red Sea, disturbing global shipping lanes, in what they said were acts of solidarity with Gaza's Palestinians during Israel's war with Hamas.

"Our hands are on the trigger and we are ready to immediately escalate against the Israeli enemy if it returns to escalation in the Gaza Strip," al-Houthi said in a televised speech.

The Gaza ceasefire deal appears fragile after Hamas said it would stop releasing Israeli hostages over what the Palestinian militant group called Israeli violations of the agreement.

In response, Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed the military to be at the highest level of readiness in Gaza and for domestic defence.

The Houthis, part of Iran's anti-Israel and anti-Western regional alliance known as the Axis of Resistance, have also launched missiles and drones towards Israel, hundreds of kilometres to the north.

(Reuters - Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Jana Choukeir, and Mohammed Ghobari in Aden; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Angus MacSwan)