DUBAI: A cargo ship abandoned in the Gulf of Aden after an attack by Yemeni rebels remains afloat and could be towed to Djibouti this week, its operator said on Thursday.
Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, British-registered and Lebanese-operated cargo ship carrying combustible fertilizer, was damaged in Sunday’s missile strike claimed by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Its crew was evacuated to Djibouti after one missile hit the side of the ship, causing water to enter the engine room and its stern to sag, said its operator, the Blue Fleet Group.
A second missile hit the vessel’s deck without causing major damage, Blue Fleet CEO Roy Khoury said.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels had claimed on Monday the attack on the ship, saying it was “at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden” after receiving “extensive damage.”
Khoury said the ship was still afloat and shared an image captured on Wednesday that showed its stern low in the water.
“She will be towed to Djibouti but the tugboat has not yet arrived,” Khoury said. “It should be there in two to three days.”
When asked about the possibility of it sinking, Khoury said there was “no risk for now but always a possibility.”
Ship-tracking site TankerTrackers.com confirmed that the Rubymar had not sunk but warned that the vessel was leaking fuel oil.
The attack on the Rubymar has inflicted the most significant damage yet to a commercial ship since the Houthis started firing on vessels in November — a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
The Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority said the ship’s last port of call was the United Arab Emirates and it was destined for Belarus.
Its 24 crew members included 11 Syrians, six Egyptians, three Indians and four Filipinos, the authority said in a statement on Monday.
“The vessel has on board 21,999 MT (metric tons) of fertilizer IMDG class 5.1,” the authority said on X, formerly Twitter, describing it as “very dangerous.”
The Houthi attacks have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, which normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.
The UN Conference on Trade and Development warned late last month that the volume of commercial traffic passing through the Suez Canal had fallen more than 40 percent in the previous two months.
Abandoned Red Sea ship remains afloat, to be towed to Djibouti: operator
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Abandoned Red Sea ship remains afloat, to be towed to Djibouti: operator
- Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, British-registered and Lebanese-operated cargo ship, was damaged in Sunday’s Houthi missile strike
Two crew hurt, two missing in attack on ship off Yemen; Houthis say they sunk Greek carrier
- The Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C has 22 crew members and armed guards on board
- Ship was attacked with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from manned speedboats
ATHENS: At least two crew members were wounded and two were missing following an attack by Houthi militants on a Greek-managed cargo ship off Yemen on Monday, hours after the Iran-aligned group said an earlier assault had sunk another bulk carrier in the Red Sea.
Monday’s attack 50 nautical miles southwest of the port of Hodeidah was the second strike against merchant vessels in the vital shipping corridor since November 2024, said an official at the European Union´s Operation Aspides, assigned to help protect Red Sea shipping.
The Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C with 22 crew members – 21 Filipinos and one Russian – and armed guards on board, was attacked with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from manned speedboats, sources said.
At least two crew members were seriously injured, its manager, Cosmoship Management, said. The vessel’s bridge was hit and telecommunications were impacted, a company official said.
Maritime security sources said the vessel, which was unladen, has suffered severe damage and is currently listing. The crew was ordered to abandon the ship, but the lifeboats had been destroyed, two sources said.
The ship was adrift, an Aspides official said. At the time of the incident, no warship of the Aspides mission was close to the vessel.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, so far.
Earlier on Monday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack on the Greek-operated MV Magic Seas bulk carrier off southwest Yemen. The raid involved gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades from eight skiffs as well as missiles and four uncrewed surface vessels.
The 19 crew were forced to abandon the Liberian-flagged vessel as it was taking on water. They were picked up by a passing ship and have arrived safely in Djibouti, sources said.
The Houthis said they sunk the vessel. But Michael Bodouroglou, a representative of Stem Shipping, one of the ship’s commercial managers, said there was no independent verification.
Growing operational risk
The crew had reported fires at the vessel’s forepeak, in the bow. The engine room and at least two holds were flooded, and there was no electricity.
Aspides had earlier warned of a risk of explosion in the ship’s vicinity.
Since Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas began in October 2023, the Houthis have been attacking Israel and vessels in the Red Sea in what they say are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Israel has struck Houthi targets in response, launching strikes on Monday for the first time in nearly a month. A US-Houthi ceasefire deal in May did not include Israel.
The latest attacks highlight a growing operational risk to commercial operators whose vessels have called at Israeli ports, Maritime security firm Diaplous said.
Magic Seas was carrying iron and fertilizers from China to Turkiye, a voyage that appeared low-risk as it had nothing to do with Israel, Bodouroglou said, adding that Stem Shipping had received no warning of the attack.
But the fleet of Allseas Marine, Magic Seas’ other commercial manager, had made calls to Israeli ports over the past year, according to analysis by UK-based maritime risk management company Vanguard Tech.
“These factors put the Magic Seas at an extreme risk of being targeted,” said Ellie Shafik, head of intelligence with Vanguard Tech.
The manager of ETERNITY C is also affiliated with vessels that have made calls to Israeli ports, security sources said.
John Xylas, chairman of the dry bulk shipping association Intercargo, said the crew were “innocent people, simply doing their jobs, keeping global trade moving.”
“No one at sea should ever face such violence,” he said.
Gaza ceasefire can be reached but may take more time, Israeli officials say
- The ceasefire proposal envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely
JERUSALEM: Gaps in Gaza ceasefire talks under way in Qatar between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas can be bridged but it may take more than a few days to reach a deal, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.
The new push by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to halt fighting in the battered enclave has gained pace since Sunday when the warring sides began indirect talks in Doha and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out to Washington.
Netanyahu met on Monday with US President Donald Trump, who said on the eve of their meeting that a ceasefire and hostage deal could be reached this week. The Israeli leader was scheduled to meet Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who played a major role in crafting the ceasefire proposal, will travel to Doha this week to join discussions there, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier on Monday.
The ceasefire proposal envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely.
Hamas has long demanded an end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to end the fighting until all hostages are released and Hamas dismantled. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian sources said on Monday that there were gaps between the sides on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Senior Israeli officials briefing journalists in Washington, said it may take more than a few days to finalize agreements in Doha but they did not elaborate on the sticking points. Another Israeli official said progress had been made.
Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, who sits in Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said that there was “a substantial chance,” a ceasefire will be agreed. “Hamas wants to change a few central matters, it’s not simple, but there is progress,” he told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Tuesday.
The war began on October 7 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza.
Israel’s subsequent campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced almost the entire population of more than 2 million people, sparked a humanitarian crisis in the enclave and left much of the territory in ruins.
Iran’s government says at least 1,060 people were killed in the war with Israel
- Iranian official warns the death toll may reach 1,100 given how severely some people were wounded
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Iran’s government has issued a new death toll for its war with Israel, saying at least 1,060 people were killed and warning that the figure could rise.
Saeed Ohadi, the head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, gave the figure in an interview aired by Iranian state television late Monday.
Ohadi warned the death toll may reach 1,100 given how severely some people were wounded.
During the war, Iran downplayed the effects of Israel’s 12-day bombardment of the country, which decimated its air defenses, destroyed military sites and damaged its nuclear facilities. Since a ceasefire took hold, Iran slowly has been acknowledging the breadth of the destruction, though it still has not said how much military materiel it lost.
The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has said 1,190 people were killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said.
Israeli strikes kill 18 in Gaza as explosive devices leave 5 Israeli soldiers dead
- Statement: Two of the soldiers ‘fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip’
- Latest round of negotiations on war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha
TEL AVIV: Eighteen Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, health officials said Tuesday, as fighting continued amid efforts to broker a US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli military also reported that five of its soldiers were killed overnight in northern Gaza, in an attack that occurred while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington.
An Israeli security official said explosive devices were detonated against the soldiers during an operation in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza, which was an early target of the war and an area where Israel has repeatedly fought regrouping militants.
Militants also opened fire on the forces who were evacuating the wounded soldiers, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the incident with the media.
The military said two soldiers were seriously wounded in the attack, which brings the toll of soldiers killed to 888 since the war against Hamas began in 2023.
The soldiers died roughly two weeks after Israel reported once of its deadliest days in months in Gaza, when seven soldiers were killed when a Palestinian attacker attached a bomb to their armored vehicle.
In a statement, Netanyahu sent his condolences for the deaths, saying the soldiers fell “in a campaign to defeat Hamas and to free all of our hostages.”
Health officials at the Nasser Hospital, where victims of the Israeli strikes were taken, said one of the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing four people. A separate strike in Khan
Younis killed four people, including a mother, father, and their two children, officials said.
In central Gaza, Israeli strikes hit a group of people, killing 10 people and injuring 72 others, according to a statement by Awda Hospital in Nuseirat.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes, but it blames Hamas for any harm to civilians because the militant group operates out of populated areas.
US President Donald Trump has made clear that, following last month’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran, he would like to see the 21-month Gaza conflict end soon. Netanyahu’s visit to Washington may give new urgency to the ceasefire proposal.
White House officials are urging both sides to quickly seal an agreement that would bring about a 60-day pause in the fighting, send aid flooding into Gaza and free at least some of the remaining 50 hostages held in the territory, 20 of whom are believed to be living.
A sticking point is whether the ceasefire will end the war altogether. Hamas has said it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu says the war will end once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile — something it refuses to do.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal
- Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will ‘always’ keep security control over the Gaza Strip
- The US proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House on Monday as he pressed the Israeli prime minister to end the devastating Gaza war.
Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to power comes at a crucial time, with the US president hoping to capitalize on the momentum from a recent truce between Israel and Iran.
“I don’t think there is a hold up. I think things are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the start of the dinner when asked what was preventing a peace deal.
Sitting on the opposite side of a long table from the Israeli leader, Trump also voiced confidence that Hamas was willing to end the conflict in Gaza, which is entering its 22nd month.
“They want to meet and they want to have that ceasefire,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if clashes involving Israeli soldiers would derail talks.
The meeting in Washington came as Israel and Hamas held a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on an elusive ceasefire.
Netanyahu meanwhile said he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — the US president’s long-held goal — presenting him with a letter he sent to the prize committee.
“He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other,” Netanyahu said.
But Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will ‘always’ keep security control over the Gaza Strip.
“Now, people will say it’s not a complete state, it’s not a state. We don’t care,” Netanyahu said.
Several dozen protesters gathered near the White House as Trump and Netanyahu met, chanting slogans accusing the Israeli prime minister of “genocide.”
Trump has strongly backed key US ally and fellow conservative Netanyahu, lending US support in Israel’s recent war by bombing Iran’s key nuclear facilities.
But at the same time he has increasingly pushed for an end to what he called the “hell” in Gaza. Trump said on Sunday he believes there is a “good chance” of an agreement this coming week.
“The utmost priority for the president right now in the Middle East is to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Leavitt said Trump wanted Hamas to agree to a US-brokered proposal “right now” after Israel backed the plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, with representatives seated in different rooms in the same building.
Monday’s talks ended with “no breakthrough,” a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP. The Hamas and Israeli delegations were due to resume talks later.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to join the talks in Doha later this week in an effort to get a ceasefire over the line.
The US proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP.
The group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system, they said.
In Gaza, the civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the war, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.
