Top UK, US diplomats discuss Houthi attacks, humanitarian situation in Gaza

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The top British and American diplomats held a phone call on Tuesday on the rising number of attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on vessels in the Red Sea as well as worsening food insecurity in Gaza.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke about the international community’s "shared condemnation of the illegal and unjustified attacks" on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi militants, said a UK Foreign Office spokesperson in a statement.

Iranian-backed Houthis have significantly stepped up their involvement in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip by targeting vessels in the Red Sea, one the world's most important routes for oil and fuel shipments.

"They made clear that the UK and US will work with our partners to hold the Houthis accountable for these unlawful seizures and attacks," said the statement.

The spokesperson said Cameron raised the issue of "worsening food insecurity" in Gaza and the “urgent need for significantly more aid to reach civilians, through as many routes as possible."

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 22,185 Palestinians have since been killed and 57,035 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.

The two diplomats also discussed Russia’s recent airstrikes on Odesa, Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Kyiv, and their "steadfast commitment" to supporting Ukraine this year.

Moscow and Kyiv have exchanged accusations over mutual airstrikes that intensified on Friday when at least 40 people were killed in Ukraine in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as the "heaviest attack" since the start of the war 22 months ago.

A day later, 24 people were killed and at least 100 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the city of Belgorod, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called a “terrorist attack” that “will not go unpunished."