Yesterday the pure car and truck carrier Galaxy Leader , which is part of the fleet of Japan's Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), was seized by Houthi militiamen while in navigation near Hodeida, Yemen, headed to India. The Japanese company said it had received reports of the seizure from Britain's Galaxy Maritime, which owns the ship that NYK has chartered. NYK highlighted that the priority is aimed at the safety of the 25 crew members of the Galaxy Leader which has no load on board.

In the hours after the seizure several media outlets had signaled that the car carrier was Israeli-owned by resuming communications from the Yemeni Armed Forces, the Houthi militia that it said it had as declared as its own "legitimate targets" the flag ships or Israeli properties or those operated by Israeli companies in the context of the action of Israeli troops in Gaza.