Houthi, Hamas meet to discuss cooperation against Israel

Senior Houthi and Hamas officials held a rare meeting to discuss coordinating action against Israel, according to sources.

AFP on March 15 quoted sources from the two armed groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip as saying that the leaders of the two groups and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) movement held an "important meeting" with representatives of the Houthi forces from Yemen last week. The sources did not disclose the location of the event.

During the meeting, they discussed a “mechanism for coordinated resistance action” for the next phase of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as well as the possibility of an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, the southernmost city in the strip. The Houthi representative also confirmed that the force would continue to attack shipping lanes in the Red Sea to “support the Palestinian resistance”.

Hamas and Houthi officials have not commented on the information.

An Israeli military helicopter in the Gaza Strip in this photo posted on March 13. Photo: IDF — An Israeli military helicopter in the Gaza Strip in this photo posted on March 13. Photo: *IDF*

Hamas and the Houthis are allies in the Iranian-led “axis of resistance” in the Middle East against Israel and the West. The Yemeni militant group has been attacking international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023, in what it says is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is waging a war against Hamas.

The US and UK have launched several strikes against the Houthis, but have not been able to stop the group from attacking cargo ships. On March 6, the armed group fired a missile at the Barbados-flagged True Confidence in the Red Sea, killing one Vietnamese and two Filipino sailors and injuring at least two sailors.

This is the first time that Houthi attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea have caused casualties among the crew.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi announced on March 14 that his forces would attack "Israeli-linked cargo ships" passing through the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope, instead of just targeting ships in the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Many shipping companies have recently stopped sailing their cargo ships through the Red Sea and switched to a longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa to avoid the risk of being attacked by the Houthis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 15 approved the army's plan to advance into the city of Rafah, despite opposition from many countries, including the United States and China, due to concerns about the risk of a humanitarian crisis. More than half of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people are concentrated in the city after fleeing other areas.

Local health officials said the conflict in the Gaza Strip had left 31,490 people dead and 73,439 injured as of March 15, the majority of them women and children.