US fighter jets have carried out a series of air raids across Yemen, killing at least 31 people, Al Jazeera reported.

The US raids, the most significant military action since Donald Trump’s return to power in January, came after Yemen’s Ansarallah threatened to resume raids on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea over Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The US attacks, which began on Saturday and continued into the early hours of Sunday, on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as well as areas in Saada, al-Bayda and Radaa, killed 31 people and wounded 101, “most of whom were children and women”, spokesperson for Yemen’s Ministry of Health, Anis al-Asbahi, wrote on X.

The victims in Saada included four children and a woman.

The Ansarallah group warned that the strikes “will not pass without response”. Its website slammed “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.

Trump, in a post on social media, promised to “use overwhelming lethal force” in Yemen.

“Your time is up, and your attacks must stop, starting today. If they don’t, hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before,” he said in a statement on Truth Social, his social media site.

“I have ordered the US military today to launch a decisive and powerful military operation against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,” he said, adding that Washington “will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”.

Ansarallah, who controls much of Yemen, has yet to attack any ships despite threatening to do so last week over Israel’s blockade on all food, fuel and other essentials into the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, an Ansarallah spokesman accused the US of overstating the threat to shipping operations to influence public opinion.

“What the US president claims about a threat to international navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait is false and misleading to international public opinion,” Mohammed Abdul-Salam said.

“The maritime embargo declared by Yemen in support of Gaza is limited only to Israeli navigation until humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of Gaza, according to the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance and the enemy entity,” he added.

The political bureau of Ansarallah issued a separate statement, describing the attacks as a “war crime” and promised to respond.

“The aggression will not go unanswered,” it said. “Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to respond to escalation with escalation.”

In Sanaa, residents said at least four air raids rocked the eastern Geraf neighbourhood in the Shuayb district, terrifying women and children in the area.

“The explosions were very strong,” said Abdallah al-Alffi. “It was like an earthquake.”