DUBAI, UAE (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels unilaterally released 153 war detainees on Saturday, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, one of several overtures made in recent days to ease tensions following the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip. Previous prisoner releases have been viewed as a means to jumpstart talks over permanently ending Yemen’s decadelong war, which began when the Houthis seized the country’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014. However, the Houthis’ release comes just after they detained another seven Yemeni workers from the United Nations, sparking anger from the world body.

The Red Cross announced the release of previously released prisoners, who had received medical checks and other assistance from Red Cross staff in Sanaa. The Red Cross welcomed the unilateral release as a positive step towards resuming negotiations.

Abdul Qader al-Murtada, the head of the Houthis’ Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, said in a statement carried by Houthi media that those released were “humanitarian cases’ that included the sick, wounded and the elderly. “The goal of the initiative is to build trust and establish a new phase of serious and honest dealing,” al-Murtada reportedly said. The Red Cross has helped oversee other prisoner releases, including one that saw some 1,000 prisoners swapped in 2020, over 800 detainees exchanged in 2023 and another release in 2024. The rebels said earlier this week they would limit their attacks on ships in the Red Sea corridor and released the 25-member crew of the Galaxy Leader, a ship they seized back in November 2023, as the Gaza ceasefire took hold.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more. The Houthis’ attacks on shipping during the Israel-Hamas war have helped deflect attention from their problems at home. But they have faced casualties and damage from U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the group for months now, as well as other strikes by Israel. Meanwhile, Yemen’s economy is in tatters, something that’s put increasing pressure on the Houthis and others in the conflict to potentially negotiate an end to the war. A de facto ceasefire in the conflict, which drew in a Saudi-led coalition in 2015, has largely held for several years now even during the Houthis attacks over the Israel-Hamas war.

Yet the Houthis still conducted the raids that saw seven U.N. workers detained, likely alongside others. The rebels previously detained U.N. staffers, as well as individuals associated with the once-open U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, aid groups and civil society. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres late Friday demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the seven, as well as all other U.N. workers held by the Houthis, some since 2021. “The continued targeting of U.N. personnel and its partners negatively impacts our ability to assist millions of people in need in Yemen,” he warned in a statement. “The Houthis must deliver on their previous commitments and act in the best interests of the Yemeni people and the overall efforts to achieve peace in Yemen.”

The U.N. has halted work in Yemen, which provides food, medicine and other aid to the impoverished nation. U.S. President Donald Trump separately has moved to reinstate a terrorism designation he made on the group late in his first term that had been revoked by President Joe Biden, potentially setting the stage for new tensions with the rebels. Analysts have linked the newest U.N. detentions as being connected to the decision, though the Houthis themselves have yet to comment on them. The rebels have been airing repeated programs on television channels they control parading people they describe as working with Western intelligence agencies or the Israelis.

A person detained by the Houthis meets their family member after their release, in Sanaa, Yemen January 25, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY