SANAA, Yemen 

Yemen’s Houthi group threatened Tuesday to expand its attacks on shipping if the Israeli army invaded the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"The Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and their threat to invade Rafah will be met with a Yemeni response and the launching of the fourth round of escalation," Allama Muhammad Muftah, the chairman of the Houthi-run Supreme Committee for Supporting Al-Aqsa, told the Al-Masirah TV channel.

"In case of any escalation (in Rafah), the Yemeni armed forces’ decision is clear, and a more extensive and broader escalation may occur," he said.

He added that the group's escalation would be "a response to any Israeli audacity, whether an attack on Yemen, Gaza, or any inch of occupied Palestine."

On Monday, Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in eastern Rafah, a move widely seen as a prelude to Israel's long-feared attack on the city, which is home to some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli forces seized control of the Rafah border crossing linking Gaza with Egypt, closing it to all traffic.

The Israeli army said the 401st armored brigade took "operational control" of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,100 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul