The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
Ship sailing off Yemen describes ‘loud bang,’ several explosions
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organization says the master of an unidentified ship in the Red Sea reported “a loud bang accompanied by a flash on the port bow of the vessel” and several explosions in the vicinity of the area.
The incident occurred about 55 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The report says there were no injuries or damage and the boat is heading full speed to its next port of call.
The report comes moments after the US military said the Maersk Hangzhou container ship was hit by a missile, after which an American warship responding to the incident shot down two more missiles, in what appears to be the same incident.
Container ship hit by Houthi missile, US warship shoots down others
The US Central Command says the Maersk Hangzhou container ship reported being struck by a missile while sailing through the Red Sea, seemingly the first successful attack since the launch of an international coalition to patrol the key waterway 10 days ago.
An American warship, the USS Gravely, shot down two more ballistic missiles while responding to a distress call along with the USS Labboon, the military says.
The missiles were fired from a part of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group, which has carried out nearly two dozen attacks on merchant vessels in a bid to choke traffic traversing the key Bab al Mandeb strait connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
USS GRAVELY shoots down two anti-ship ballistic missiles while responding to Houthi attack on merchant vessel.
Today at approximately 8:30 p.m. (Sanaa time), the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU reported that they were struck by a missile while transiting the Southern Red Sea. The… pic.twitter.com/nUgifhkdC8
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2023
According to CentCom, there were no injuries on the Maersk container ship, and the ship remains seaworthy and able to continue its journey.
According to publicly available data, the Singapore-flagged, Denmark-owned ship was sailing from Singapore to Port Said Egypt.
The strike comes a day after Denmark joined the international coalition set up to patrol the Red Sea and thwart such attacks.
Maersk, among the world’s largest shippers, recently said it was resuming its more efficient Red Sea routes in apparent reaction to the force being set up, after weeks of sending marine traffic around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope to avoid Houthi attacks.
Speaking before the attack was announced, US Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told the Associated Press that since Operation Prosperity Guardian was announced, 1,200 merchant ships had traveled through the Red Sea region, and none had been hit by drone or missile strikes.
There are five warships from the United States, France, and the United Kingdom patrolling the waters of the southern Red Sea and the western Gulf of Aden, says Cooper, who heads the 5th Fleet. Since the operation started, the ships have shot down a total of 17 drones and four anti-ship ballistic missiles, he says.
The Houthis have threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel, in retaliation for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
That has escalated to apparently any vessel, with container ships and oil tankers flagged to countries such as Norway and Liberia being attacked or drawing missile fire.
Right-hand man to infamous Hamas bomb-maker Ayyash killed in Gaza, Palestinians say
A Hamas armed wing commander who was a right-hand man to Hamas’s chief bomb-maker decades ago was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Shehab news outlet, which is considered close to the terror group.
According to Shehab, Abdul Fattah Amin Maali was a close associate to Yahya Ayyash, one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades, the terror group’s armed wing.
Nicknamed the Engineer, Ayyash was known for both developing Hamas’s use of suicide bombings and building many of the explosives used in attacks that took the lives of dozens of Israelis in the early and mid-1990s.
He was assassinated by the Shin Bet in January 1996.
Shehab says Maali was deported to Gaza after his release from prison, and had been an al-Qassam commander himself.
Hezbollah says operative killed in southern Lebanon strike
The Hezbollah terror group says a strike on the southern Lebanon border town of Bint Jbeil killed one of its fighters, naming him as Ali Ahmed Saad (Jibril).
Saad was apparently killed during Israeli strikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon on Saturday afternoon, in response to repeated attacks on northern Israel.
Earlier reports claimed him as a civilian. Hezbollah says he was killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” a euphemism it uses to eulogize its fighters.
Hebzollah announces the death of a combatant, definitely not any way, shape, or form a civilian. He is identified as Ali Ahmed Saad (Jibril). https://t.co/8ho1vMcRaQ pic.twitter.com/H3hSVcIBLw
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) December 30, 2023
IDF to raze homes of 3 Hamas members who carried out deadly shooting at West Bank checkpoint
The Israel Defense Forces announces its intention to demolish the homes of three Hamas members who last month carried out a shooting attack at a West Bank checkpoint, killing a soldier and wounding several others.