Japan Approaches Yemen's Houthis for Talks on Siezed Israeli-Linked Ship
Japan has approached Yemen's Ansar Allah (Houthi) group in a bid to secure the release of the Galaxy Leader, hijacked in the Red Sea. Japan says it is "directly approaching" the Houthis, who seized a cargo ship in the Red Sea on Sunday, reported Al Jazeera English. Tokyo said on Monday that it is also "communicating with Israel" as it seeks to secure the release of the Galaxy Leader. The ship is owned by an Israeli businessman and operated by a Japanese firm. The Houthi group claimed responsibility for seizing it, vowing to target all Israeli ships in the Red Sea as part of the Houthi support for Gaza, which Israel has been bombarding since October 7.
The Houthi group used a helicopter raid to seize a Japanese cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, said U.S. officials. According to the officials, at around 1 p.m. Sunday local time, a helicopter hovered over the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-owned and Bahamian-flagged ship, and several armed individuals rappelled down to the deck. On Nov. 16, the International Maritime Security Construct issued an advisory to all mariners in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti because of the threat. The advisory warned ships to stay as far away from Yemeni waters as possible and recommended travel at night whenever possible.
On the occasion of World Children's Day, 43 local and international organizations have called on the conflicting parties in Yemen and the international community to include justice for Yemeni children in ongoing peace talks to enable them to live a dignified life.In a joint statement issued on November 20, the organizations held all conflict parties responsible for committing violations against children in Yemen. According to the statement, 250 cases of serious human rights violations against children have been documented from January to September 2023, pointing out that the Houthi group was responsible for the majority of these violations. The organizations called on the conflicting parties to immediately cease all violations against children, including killing, maiming, recruitment, sexual violence, abduction, and hindering humanitarian aid access.
The international community needs to shoulder responsibility to stop Israel's violations in Gaza, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said on Monday. During a meeting between China's foreign minister and ministers from Arab and Islamic countries, the Saudi foreign minister said, "We are here to send a clear signal: that is we must immediately stop the fighting and the killings. We must immediately deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza." Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said his country would work with "our brothers and sisters" in the Arab and Islamic world to try to end the war in Gaza as soon as possible.
Heavy fighting erupted Monday around a hospital in northern Gaza where thousands of patients and displaced people have been sheltering for weeks. The Israeli advance on the Indonesian Hospital came a day after the World Health Organization evacuated 31 premature babies from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the territory's largest, where they were among more than 250 critically sick or injured patients stranded there days after Israeli forces entered the compound. Israel says Hamas uses civilians as human shields, while critics say Israel's siege and relentless aerial bombardment is a collective punishment of 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip.
