Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants have captured what they called an Israeli ship in the Red Sea and taken it to the Yemeni coast, the group’s spokesperson Yahya Saree said on social media on Sunday.

“The Yemeni armed forces reiterate their warning to all ships belonging to or dealing with the Israeli enemy that they will become a legitimate target for armed forces,” he added, urging the international community to avoid working with Israeli ships or owned by Israeli individuals.

“Yemeni armed forces confirm that they will continue to carry out military operations against the Israeli enemy until the aggression against Gaza stops,” the spokesperson said.

On Monday, Japan’s top government spokesperson confirmed the capture of the Nippon Yusen-operated ship, Galaxy Leader, according to Reuters. Tokyo is now appealing with the Houthis for the release of the vessel and seeking the help of Saudi, Omani and Iranian authorities.

“The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very grave incident of global consequence,” the Israeli military said on social media.

“The ship departed Turkey on its way to India, staffed by civilians of various nationalities, not including Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office qualified the vessel as owned by a British company and operated by a Japanese business, stating no Israeli people were present on the vessel.

“This is another act of Iranian terrorism which expresses a leap forward in Iran’s aggression against the citizens of the free world, and creates international implications regarding the security of global shipping lanes,” Netanyahu said, according to a Google translation.

Iran, which supports the Houthis and Hamas groups that are inimical to Israel, rejected claims of involvement in the ship’s capture, according to Google-translated comments by Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani, carried by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Thirty-one babies were evacuated on Sunday from the Al-Shifa hospital to a medical facility in the south of the Gaza Strip, in a joint mission between the World Health Organization and the U.N., working in collaboration with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Born prematurely with low birthweight, these infants had previously been moved from the neonatal unit of the Al-Shifa hospital to a safe area on site, because of electricity shortages to power their life support and security risks at the facility.

Two other babies passed away before the evacuation took place.

Eleven of the infants who were removed are in critical condition, and all the babies are fighting “serious” infections because of a lack of supplies, the WHO said. The children are not accompanied by family members, who could not be found.

Six health workers and 10 of their family members, who had taken shelter at the hospital, were evacuated alongside the children. The mission was “deconflicted with the Israel Defense Forces and with the defacto authorities,” the WHO said. Israeli military last week raided and has since been inspecting the Al-Shifa hospital on suspicion that the hospital is used for Hamas operations.

Over 250 patients and 20 health workers remain at Al-Shifa and request immediate evacuation, the WHO said, noting that such a procedure would take several days because of the “complex security and logistics constraints.”

The organization reiterated it is “deeply concerned about the safety and health needs of patients and health workers who remain at Al-Shifa Hospital” and said the medical complex is no longer able to function because of a lack of clean water, fuel, medical supplies and food, along with active hostilities.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Securities Authority said they killed three further company commanders of Palestinian militant group Hamas during ground operations, according to an IDF update on Telegram.

The military did not name the deceased or state when they were killed.

IDF troops also identified and killed Hamas operatives in a cell, as well as striking a weapons depot in which they took shelter, the military said.

CNBC could not independently confirm the report.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Sewage pumps in the Gaza Strip can only run at 55% capacity amid ongoing fuel shortages, according to Thomas White, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine.

“Some difficult decisions have had to be made about what lifesaving aid is prioritised – sewage will continue to follow in the streets,” White said.

White and UNRWA previously drew alarm bells over the critical state of fuel-deprived infrastructure and services in the Gaza enclave, with sanitation, water desalination and medical equipment slipping offline. The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned of the health and infection risks if these services no longer function.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Israeli military has released further details of its findings following its ground incursion at the Al-Shifa hospital, including what it says is footage of a tunnel beneath the medical complex proving Hamas carried out operations on the premises.

In an operational update delivered by Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler, the IDF showed a clip of what appeared to be a tunnel it said spans over 50 meters and is located beneath the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. In addition to weapons, vests, intelligence and communication resources, the military said it found a car similar to those deployed in the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7 on the site of the hospital, adding that the vehicle was boobytrapped.

“What does it mean to boobytrap a car that is at the center of the hospital complex? They did not only want to kill Israeli soldiers that they knew were coming there. They were willing and deliberately wanting also the patients and staff that is in the hospital to get hurt in that event,” Shefler said.

He added that the military was able to carry out its raid of Al-Shifa without “any kind of friction with the medical team” and to “facilitate” what hospital staff required. He added that the IDF brought medical equipment and supplies to Al-Shifa — but did not clarify how these resources will be powered, amid severe fuel and electricity shortages that have rendered unusable the previous equipment of Al-Shifa, according to local health officials.

CNBC could not independently verify the video footage and report.

The IDF has been subject to intense pressure to provide evidence of Hamas using the Al-Shifa hospital as a command center and justify its ground incursion on a civilian site. Hamas and the Al-Shifa staff have previously denied the Palestinian militant group carries out operations from the medical site.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Israel Defense Forces have released video footage they say show hostages being brought into the Al-Shifa hospital on the day of the Oct. 7 terror attacks carried out by Hamas.

CNBC has not independently verified the videos.

A first clip appears to show an individual forcibly marched into a hospital’s premises. The second footage shows a heavily wounded individual with a blurred-out face transported on a gurney, while one of the men who brought the patient in carries a rifle.

The IDF say that the two individuals are a Nepalese and Thai civilian, who were taken captive by Hamas.

“These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organization used the Shifa Hospital complex on the day of the massacre as terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF said.

Israeli military has justified its widely criticized siege of the Al-Shifa hospital on the basis that the medical complex has been utilized as a Hamas compound and has faced mounting international pressure to prove that claim.

— Ruxandra Iordache

NBC News reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the negotiations, that U.S., Israeli and Hamas negotiators are closing in on a deal to release some hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack.

That would be in exchange for a pause in fighting, NBC News reported, with the sources cautioning that nothing was finalized.

“We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal,” spokesperson Adrienne Waston posted on X in response to a Washington Post report about a possible agreement.

Read the NBC report here.

— Matt Clinch

Israel said on Sunday that Yemen’s Houthis had seized a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea, describing the incident as an “Iranian act of terrorism” with consequences for international maritime security.

The Houthis said they had seized a ship in that area but described it as Israeli.

“We are treating the ship’s crew in accordance with Islamic principles and values,” a spokesperson for the group said, making no reference to the Israeli account.

The Houthis, an ally of Tehran, have been launching long-range missile and drone salvoes at Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas militants fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Japan’s top government spokesperson on Monday confirmed the capture of the Nippon Yusen-operated ship, Galaxy Leader, adding that Japan was appealing to the Houthis while seeking the help of Saudi, Omani and Iranian authorities to work toward the swift release of the vessel and its crew.

“We strongly condemn such acts,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference. No Japanese nationals are among the crew, he said.

-Reuters