CAIRO (AP) — A team of the international Red Cross visited a 25-member crew on board of the Galaxy Leader vessel, which was hijacked last year by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and is docked in the port city of Hodeidah— a Houthi stronghold.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said the visit Wednesday was coordinated with local authorities, who reportedly provided access to the crew on the ship, said Jurg Montani, ICRC's head of Yemen Delegation. A first visit by ICRC took place in May.

“It is part of the ICRC’s mandate and activities to visit all persons detained in relation to a conflict, to monitor conditions of detention and the treatment of detainees,” Montani said. He added that the organization is trying to facilitate links between the detainees and their families or diplomatic representations of their respective home countries.

Houthi rebels hijacked the cargo ship in the Red Sea in November 2023 and held its 25 crew members hostage in response to Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip which had begun a month prior.

The crew members being held are from Bulgaria, the Philippines, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico, according to the ship’s Japanese operator NYK Line.

When asked about the overall conditions of the crew members, Montani said that the “ICRC does not share its findings and observations publicly, but reserves these for a bilateral, confidential dialogue with the concerned authorities.”

Nasser El-Dien Aamer, general director of Saba News Agency who accompanied the ICRC during their visit, told Houthi-controlled al-Masirah TV that the fate of the crew members depends on negotiations with Hamas given that it’s an Israeli ship.

“If negotiations are successful, the authorities in Sanaa will immediately release them once an agreement is reached with Hamas,” he said, adding that the crew members are in “very good condition”, communicating with their families and receiving health care.

The Philippines government said in a statement last month that several of the 17 Filipino crew members were experiencing “significant health issues,” showing symptoms of malaria.

The government’s Honorary Consul to Yemen Mohammad Saleh al-Jamal at the time called for authorities in Sanaa to release the Filipino crew members because of their “declining health condition.”

However, officials in Sanaa said that releasing them depends on “external decisions,” but didn't provide further details, saying only that negotiations over their fate are plausible.

In July, the Israeli army said it struck a number of military targets in Hodeidah in response to “hundreds of attacks” against Israel launched for months. The Philippines government confirmed that none of the Filipino crew members were affected by the Israeli strike.

The Houthis have sporadically targeted ships in the region over time, but the attacks have increased since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7.

The Houthis control Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, and much of the north and center of the country since the 2014 ruinous civil war pushed the internationally recognized government into exile.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024