Yemen's armed Houthi group claimed responsibility for launching missile attacks against a British cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday.

"The naval forces of the Yemeni (Houthi) armed forces carried out an attack against a British ship (Islander) in the Gulf of Aden, with several missiles," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a televised statement aired by the group's satellite TV channel al-Masirah.

The missiles directly hit the ship, causing a fire on it, said Sarea.

"We also targeted an American destroyer in the Red Sea with several drones," he said.

He said that his group also fired several ballistic missiles and drones towards the Israeli city of Eilat.