Sanaa, Dec 13 (IANS): Yemen's Houthi rebels have said they attacked with a naval missile a Norwegian ship loaded with oil and heading for Israel in the Red Sea.

"We did not resort to targetting the Norwegian ship until its crew rejected all our warning calls," Yehya Sarea, a Houthi military spokesman, said on Tuesday in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

"We will not hesitate to target any ship heading to Israel that rejects our warnings ... Over the past two days, our armed forces succeeded in preventing the passage of several ships that responded to our warnings," he added.

"We will continue to prevent all ships from heading to the ports of the Israeli enemy unless food and medicine aid be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip," said the Houthi military spokesman.

Meanwhile, Britain's Maritime Trade Operations agency, wrote on X that the attack occurred late Monday at 15 nautical miles west of the Yemeni port of Mokha, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

This is the latest attack on the international waters of the Red Sea claimed by the Yemeni militia since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, Xinhua news agency reported.

On November 19, the Houthi fighters hijacked a commercial ship, Galaxy Leader, and brought it to the Houthi-held Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

The Houthi group controls much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.