An Israeli navy missile boat patrols in the Red Sea off the coast of Israel's southern port city of Eliat on Dec 26, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

SANAA/CAIRO - Yemen's Houthi rebels on Tuesday claimed responsibility for fresh attacks on a commercial ship in the Red Sea and on the Israeli city of Eilat in the northern part of the Red Sea.

"Our naval forces carried out a military operation against a commercial ship called MSC UNITED, with naval missiles," Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea said in a statement aired live by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

"The attack came after the ship's crew refused to answer calls from our naval forces for three times, and ignored our repeated warning messages," he said.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British maritime observer agency, reported two explosions early in the day near a commercial cargo ship in the southern end of the Red Sea, about 50 nautical miles west of Yemen's port city of Hodeidah, which is under the control of the Houthi fighters.

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In the meantime, the spokesman said the Houthi forces also launched another attack toward the Israeli city of Eilat, using "a number of suicide drones." 

In Egypt, a suspected drone was downed off the coast of the country's Red Sea resort city of Dahab on Tuesday, according to security sources

But the Israeli military, which released the video footage of the interception, said in a statement on Tuesday that an Israeli aircraft "successfully intercepted a hostile aerial target that approached Israeli territory in the area of the Red Sea."

Currently, there are no reports of casualties or damage from the two attacks.

The Houthi attacks came after a series of missiles and suicide drone attacks claimed by the group against dozens of cargo ships navigating the Red Sea throughout the past few weeks since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct 7.

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The Houthis on Sunday made a clear threat to the United States and its allies, demanding them withdraw their battleships from the Red Sea, otherwise, the militant group would turn the sea into a "burning arena."

Last week, the US announced the formation of a 10-nation naval task force to quell Houthi missile and drone attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea.

In Egypt, a suspected drone was downed off the coast of the country's Red Sea resort city of Dahab on Tuesday, according to security sources.

Speaking to Xinhua on condition of anonymity, the two sources confirmed that explosions were heard in Dahab, about 150 km southwest of Israel’s Eilat.

Earlier, local Al-Qahera TV news reported that sounds of explosions were heard in Dahab as a flying object was shot down about 2 km off the city's coast, citing eyewitnesses.

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One of the sources told Xinhua that the drone is believed to be launched by the Houthis and directed at the Israeli territory.

Egypt's air defense forces downed a suspected drone off the coast of Dahab on Dec 16.

In October, the Egyptian army said its probe showed two unmanned drones were the falling objects that had injured six people in South Sinai province. The drones were heading from the south of the Red Sea to the north, and one of them was targeted outside Egyptian airspace in the Gulf of Aqaba region, according to the army.

Houthi rebels have escalated attacks on Israel-linked commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and Arab Sea, demanding an end to Israel's aggression on the Gaza strip and the delivery of food and medicine supplies to the Palestinian enclave.

The Houthis control large swathes of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the strategic port city of Hodeidah on the coast of the Red Sea, where up to 12 percent of world trade passes through.