The announcement brings the Houthis closer to ending their assault on ships crossing the waters surrounding Yemen, which has severely restricted trade through the vital Red Sea passage. Shipowners have been reluctant to return even as the rate of attacks dropped off amid a series of US and Israeli strikes on Houthi targets in recent months.

Yemen's Houthis will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships after the Gaza ceasefire came into effect, the Yemen-based Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC), said.

Yemen's Houthi rebels welcomed news of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza even as a “last-minute crisis” with Hamas was reported to be holding up Israeli approval of the long-awaited ceasefire agreement.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels threatened on Thursday to keep up their attacks if Israel did not respect the recently announced ceasefire in its war against Hamas.