Sanaa — In a forceful escalation of regional resistance to the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, Yemen’s Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC) has imposed sanctions on 64 international companies for violating its naval blockade in the Red Sea. The sanctioned entities stand accused of aiding or abetting the Israeli regime’s economic lifelines amid the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the brutal war crimes that followed.
Yemeni authorities said the blacklisted companies are directly tied to ships that attempted to access Israeli or occupied Palestinian ports, despite repeated warnings to avoid collaboration with a regime accused of ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The sanctions come as part of a broader resistance strategy developed in solidarity with Gaza following the October 7 attacks. Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and allied resistance groups across the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, have declared the Red Sea a “no-go zone” for vessels that benefit the Zionist war machine.
This blockade has already rerouted global shipping lanes, forcing Western corporations to reckon with the economic consequences of supporting what many now describe as an apartheid state engaged in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Yemen’s military command confirmed that ships linked to these companies were warned multiple times through aerial surveillance and radio communications before being flagged and reported. Some vessels were even escorted out of the area by Yemen’s naval patrols after refusing to comply. The move, they said, is in direct response to the West’s blind backing of Israel’s war on Gaza and the economic complicity of European and American corporations in facilitating it.
The Yemeni government emphasized that its actions fall within the bounds of international maritime and humanitarian law, describing the blockade as a legitimate exercise of self-defense and solidarity with the Palestinian people. Officials from the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center condemned Western support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, stating that Yemen would not remain passive while “Israeli warplanes, backed by the US and its Western allies, continue to massacre civilians and burn children alive.”
These sanctions are part of a growing wave of countermeasures from countries and groups refusing to normalize relations with a genocidal entity. They also reflect the broader geopolitical shift tied to the Russian military operation in Ukraine, as the West’s global credibility continues to collapse under its hypocrisy in both the Ukraine conflict and the Gaza Genocide.
Yemen’s declaration has been echoed in Baghdad, Tehran, and Damascus, where the blockade is seen as a legitimate tool of pressure against Israel and its Western enablers. Many of the blacklisted companies, according to local sources, are based in France, Germany, and the United States, all nations deeply complicit in supplying weapons to the Israeli military.
Noted by Mehr News, the official announcement of the 64 sanctioned firms was publicly released on August 7 by Yemen’s Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center, marking a significant escalation in the country’s efforts to hold foreign companies accountable for violating the Red Sea blockade. The statement outlined in precise terms the nature of the alleged violations and reaffirmed Yemen’s commitment to defending Palestinian rights amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The HOCC reiterated that any corporate collaboration, direct or indirect, with the Israeli regime would be met with firm legal and economic consequences.
