[1] On January 2 Maersk announced a halt on shipping through the Red Sea due to Houthi attacks.

[2] With the start of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, the Houthi-controlled Supreme Political Council declared its support for Hamas and began launching airstrikes on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, especially in the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

[8][9] The Maersk Hangzhou had previously docked in Haifa, Israel multiple times including most recently in October 2023.

[11] Before the airstrike on the Maersk Hangzhou, the United States had shot down Houthi missiles and drones and deployed naval ships to protect Red Sea shipping lanes, but had not engaged directly with the Houthis (who act as an Iranian proxies).

[16] For increased protection, the Maersk Hangzhou had aboard a team of armed private security contractors as it transited the Red Sea.

[2][1][17] On 2 January, Maersk announced that it had "decided to pause all transits through the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden until further notice"; three days later, the company confirmed that "all Maersk vessels due to transit the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden will be diverted south around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future.

"[2] On 4 January, the U.S. and its allies (Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UK) issued a "final warning" to the Houthis in a joint statement, calling for "the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews" and stating "The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region's critical waterways.

"[20] British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, in a telephone call to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said that the UK held Iran responsible for halting airstrikes on commercial ships in the Red Sea, given Iran's "longstanding support to the Houthis"; Grant Shapps, the UK's defense minister, said that Britain would consider "direct action" against the Houthis to prevent future "unlawful seizures and attacks" in the Red Sea.