On 26th November, a tanker with phosphoric acid was taken over by armed persons who remain unidentified in the Gulf of Aden.

As informed, since a bloody conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas began on October 7, there have been several strikes in Middle Eastern waterways, the most recent of which included the chemical tanker Central Park.

It came after Iran’s ally Yemeni Houthis seized a cargo ship with ties to Israel last week in the southern Red Sea. The organisation threatened to strike additional Israeli boats after firing ballistic missiles and armed drones against Israel.

Central Park, a small chemical tanker (19,998 metric tons), is managed by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-headquartered international ship management company owned by Israel’s Ofer family. The Liberian-flagged vessel was built in 2015 and is owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc, LSEG data showed.

Zodiac Maritime said in a statement Central Park, which is carrying a full cargo of phosphoric acid, was involved in a suspected piracy incident while crossing international waters, approximately 54 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.

On October 7, armed Hamas militants stormed into Israel, murdering 1,200 people. According to Palestinian health officials, since then, Israel has dropped bombs on Gaza, killing around 14,000 Palestinians, about 40% of whom were youngsters