Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a TV link ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, at a mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, March 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

The leader of the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen has threatened military action if the United States and Israel implement US President Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” Gaza, arguing instead that Trump should move Jews to America and give them their own state.

“If the Americans and Israelis try to implement the [Trump] plan by force or agree with the Arab regimes to implement it, we will intervene even with military force,” Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said during a televised speech in Yemen on Thursday.

“We will intervene through missiles, drones, naval operations, and other means if the US and Israel implement the displacement plan by force,” he continued. “We will confront them with all means. We will never stand idly by in the face of a plan of attack against the Palestinians.”

Like many other Middle Eastern leaders, al-Houthi rejected Trump’s plan to “take over” Gaza to rebuild the war-torn enclave while relocating its Palestinian residents elsewhere during reconstruction efforts.

During his speech, al-Houthi called Trump a “criminal,” saying his plan “denies rights and justice.”

“Trump’s plan to uproot the Palestinian people from their land and homeland is an expropriation of rights,” he said. “We are not surprised by the plan; there is no limit to the ambitions of the American president who believes in the unjust Zionist project [Israel].”

During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House last week, Trump called on Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states to take in Palestinians from Gaza after nearly 16 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, a bloody onslaught that launched the ongoing war in Gaza, Houthi terrorists in Yemen have routinely attacked Israel with missiles and attack drones.

In December, for example, a ballistic missile launched by the Iran-backed group struck a playground in Tel Aviv, injuring at least 16 people and causing damage to nearby homes after several interception attempts by Israel’s air defense systems failed.

The Houthis have been waging an insurgency in Yemen for two decades in a bid to overthrow the Yemeni government. They have controlled a significant portion of the country’s land in the north and along the Red Sea since 2014, when they captured it in the midst of a civil war.

The Yemeni terrorist group began disrupting global trade in a major way with their attacks on shipping in the busy Red Sea corridor after Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, arguing their aggression was a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza.

The Houthi rebels — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — said they would target all ships heading to Israeli ports, even if they did not pass through the Red Sea.

Beyond Israeli targets, the Houthis have threatened and, in some cases, actually attacked US and British ships, leading the two Western allies to launch retaliatory strikes multiple times against Houthi targets in Yemen.

With the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas in place, however, there have been no further Houthi attacks against Israel. However, with talks underway to extend the ceasefire to a second phase, al-Houthi threatened that the strikes would resume if the Trump plan were implemented.

“I call on the armed forces to be prepared for military intervention if Trump carries out his threats,” he said. “We will be monitoring and coordinating with the fighters in Palestine and the resistance axis.”

Since October 2023, the Houthis — designated as a terrorist organization by several countries including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel — have launched over 200 missiles and 170 attack drones in repeated attacks against the Jewish state.

In his speech, al-Houthi also mockingly urged Trump to take Jews into the US as a critique of his plan to relocate Palestinians elsewhere during reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

“Trump, who in his first term brought the ‘deal of the century,’ has committed the ‘crime of the century’ in his current term,” the Houthi leader said.

“If Trump and the United States want to take care of the Jews, they should transfer them to the United States,” he continued. “They can transfer the Jews to America and give them one of the states; the United States has uninhabited areas.”

Earlier this week, al-Houthi also threatened Israel, saying the Yemeni terrorists would “launch attacks if Israel attacks again in Gaza and does not abide by the ceasefire agreement.”

“We will stand by the Lebanese people if the occupation decides to escalate,” he added, referring to last year’s ceasefire that stopped fighting between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. “We confirm the principle of supporting the Palestinian people militarily, politically, and with information.”

Last month, Israel and the terrorist group Hamas reached a ceasefire and hostage-release deal brokered by the US, Egypt, and Qatar.

Under phase one, Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are deceased, in exchange for Israel freeing over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are serving life sentences for terrorism-related offenses.

So far, 16 of the 33 hostages have been released during the first phase, which is set to last six weeks.

“We are ready for military intervention in the event of Israeli escalation against Gaza,” al-Houthi said. “The Palestinian Authority is cooperating with the Israeli enemy, even these days, unfortunately.”

The Houthi leader also called for people to attend demonstrations throughout Yemen on Friday, to “send a warning message to the Israeli and American enemies against displacement or aggression.”