HODEIDA — Israel's navy said on Tuesday that it attacked docks in Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the first time that its naval forces have conducted strikes against the Iran-aligned Houthis.

The Houthis announced the attack via their al-Masirah news channel. They said the attack targeted docks in Hodeida, without elaborating. The facilities there are vital for aid shipments to the hungry, war-stricken nation.

Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones targeting Israel, as well as attacks against commercial ships in what the rebels have described as acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Late on Monday, Israel issued online warnings to Yemenis to evacuate from Ras Isa, Hodeida and al-Salif ports over the Houthis' alleged use of seaports for attacks.

"The port is used to transfer weapons and is a further example of the Houthi terrorist regime’s cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities," the Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday.

Hodeida is also the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis since the war began when the Houthis seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

Writing on X on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened the Houthis with a naval and air blockade if attacks on Israel continue.

"We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire at Israel they will face a powerful response and enter a naval and air blockade," he wrote.

The majority of the missiles and drones that the Houthis have fired towards Israel have either not hit their targets or been intercepted. Israeli forces have carried several airstrikes in retaliation, including attacks on Saana International Airport.

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion (€876 billion) of goods move through it annually.

The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March.

However, just before US President Donald Trump began his Middle East trip in mid-May, he paused the attacks, saying the rebels had "capitulated" to Washington's demands.

Earlier on Tuesday, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth wrote on X that US Navy ships used passed through the Red Sea and its Bab el-Mandeb Strait "multiple times in recent days" without facing Houthi attacks.

It's unclear how the Houthis will respond now that an attack from Israeli has come from the sea, rather than the air.

Meanwhile, the wider decade-long war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country’s exiled government — backed by a Saudi-led coalition — remains in a stalemate. — Euronews