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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who responded with missile fire targeting Israel.

The strikes came after the Houthis attacked a Liberian-flagged ship in the Red Sea that caught fire and took on water, later forcing its crew to abandon the vessel. On Monday afternoon, the claimed the attack, which saw missiles and explosive-carrying drone boats set the vessel ablaze in the Red Sea.

The Magic Seas attack raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in U.S. and Western forces to the area, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.

The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance, and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also was traveling to Washington to meet with Trump.

Israeli strikes target Houthi-held ports

The Israeli military said that it struck Houthi-held ports at Hodeida, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant. It released footage showing an F-16 launching from Israel for the strike, which came after the Israeli military issued a warning for the area.

“These ports are used by the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons from the Iranian regime, which are employed to carry out terrorist operations against the state of Israel and its allies,” the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military also said it struck the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis seized back in November 2023 when they began their attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.

“Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities,” the Israeli military said.

The Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader was affiliated with an Israeli billionaire. It said that no Israelis were on board. The ship had been operated by a Japanese firm, NYK Line.

The Houthis acknowledged the strikes, but offered no damage assessment from the attack. Their military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed its air defense forces “effectively confronted” the Israelis without offering evidence.

Israel has repeatedly attacked Houthi areas in Yemen, including a naval strike in June. Both Israel and the United States have struck ports in the area in the past — including an American attack that killed 74 people in April — but Israel is now acting alone in attacking the rebels as they continue to fire missiles at Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to launch further strikes.

“What’s true for Iran is true for Yemen,” Katz said in a statement. “Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have it cut off. The Houthis will continue to pay a heavy price for their actions.”

The Houthis then responded with an apparent missile attack on Israel. The Israeli military said that it attempted to intercept the two missiles launched by the Houthis, but they appeared to make impact, though no injuries have been reported. Sirens sounded in the West Bank and along the Dead Sea.

Saree on Monday claimed to launch missiles and drones targeting Israel in its attack.

“We are fully prepared for a sustained and prolonged confrontation, to confront hostile warplanes and to counter attempts to break the naval blockade imposed by our armed forces on the enemy,” Saree said.

Ship attack forces crew to abandon vessel

The attack on the Magic Seas, a bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, happened about 60 miles southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, center first said that an armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles.

Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, said that the Magic Seas also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could be a major escalation. It said that two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.

UKMTO said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. They were rescued by a passing ship, it added.

A European Union anti-piracy patrol in the region, called Operation Atalanta, said that 22 mariners had been on board the Magic Seas.

Saree, the Houthi spokesman, claimed the attack and said the rebels used missiles and bomb-carrying drone boats to attack the ship.

“Our operations continue in targeting the depths of the Israeli entity in occupied Palestine, as well as preventing Israeli maritime navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas … until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege on it is lifted,” Saree said.

The Magic Seas’ owners didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Houthi attacks came over the Israel-Hamas war

The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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. Their campaign has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks.

The Houthis paused attacks until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven’t attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.

As soon as eight-year-old Sidra Al Bordeeni returned from the clinic with her prosthetic arm, she jumped on a bicycle in the Jordanian refugee camp where she lives, riding for the first time since a missile strike in Gaza took her arm a year ago.

Sidra was injured while sheltering at Nuseirat School, one of several Gaza schools converted into makeshift refuges from Israeli strikes. Her mother, Sabreen Al Bordeeni, said Gaza’s collapsed health services and the family’s inability to leave at the time made it impossible to save her hand.

A technician checks a prosthetic limb at the Bioniks, in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

“She’s out playing, and all her friends and siblings are fascinated by her arm,” Al Bordeeni said on the phone, repeatedly thanking God for this day. “I can’t express how grateful I am to see my daughter happy.”

The arm was built over 4,000 kilometres away in Karachi by Bioniks, a Pakistani company that uses a smartphone app to take pictures from different angles and create a 3D model for custom prosthetics.

CEO Anas Niaz said the social enterprise startup had fit more than 1,000 custom-designed arms inside Pakistan since 2021 – funded through a mix of patient payments, corporate sponsorship, and donations – but this was its first time providing prosthetics to those impacted in conflict.

Sidra and three-year-old Habebat Allah, who lost both her arms and a leg in Gaza, went through days of remote consultations and virtual fittings. Then Niaz flew from Karachi to Amman to meet the girls and make his company’s first overseas delivery.

Sidra’s device was funded by Mafaz Clinic in Amman, while donations from Pakistanis paid for Habebat’s. Mafaz CEO Entesar Asaker said the clinic partnered with Bioniks for its low costs, remote solutions and ability to troubleshoot virtually.

Niaz said each prosthetic arm costs about $2,500, significantly less than the $10,000 to $20,000 for alternatives made in the United States.

A technician works on computers with prosthetic limb diagram at Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

While Bioniks’ arms are less sophisticated than US versions, they provide a high level of functionality for children and their remote process makes them more accessible than options from other countries such as Turkey and South Korea.

“We plan on providing limbs for people in other conflict zones too, like Ukraine, and become a global company,” Niaz said.

Globally, most advanced prosthetics are designed for adults and rarely reach children in war zones, who need lighter limbs and replacements every 12–18 months as they grow.

Niaz said they were exploring funding options for Sidra and Habebat’s future replacements, adding the cost wouldn’t be too high.

A technician works on computers with prosthetic limb diagram at Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

“Only a few components would need to be changed,” he said, “the rest can be reused to help another child.”

Bioniks occasionally incorporates popular fictional characters into its children’s prosthetics such as Marvel’s Iron Man or Disney’s Elsa, a feature Niaz said helps with emotional acceptance and daily use.

A technician checks a prosthetic limb at the Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

‘Finally hug my father’

Gaza now has around 4,500 new amputees, on top of 2,000 existing cases from before the war, many of them children, making it one of the highest child-amputation crises per capita in recent history, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in March.

An April study by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics found at least 7,000 children have been injured since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October 2023. Local health authorities say more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, nearly one-third of them children.

The World Health Organization has said Gaza’s health system is “on its knees” with Israel’s border closures drying up critical supplies, meaning the wounded cannot access specialised care, especially amid waves of wounded patients.

“Where it’s nearly impossible for healthcare professionals and patients to meet, remote treatment bridges a critical gap, making assessments, fittings, and follow-up possible without travel or specialised centres,” said Asadullah Khan, Clinic Manager at ProActive Prosthetic in Leeds, UK, which provides artificial limbs and support for trauma patients.

Bioniks hopes to pioneer such solutions on a large scale but funding remains a roadblock and the company is still trying to form viable partnerships.

Sidra is still adjusting to her new hand, on which she now wears a small bracelet. For much of the past year, when she wanted to make a heart, a simple gesture using both hands, she would ask someone else to complete it. This time, she formed the shape herself, snapped a photo, and sent it to her father, who is still trapped in Gaza.

“What I’m looking forward to most is using both my arms to finally hug my father when I see him,” she said.