The US has to re-route arms shipment to Israel as Athens declined to allow a Greek port be used as a transit point, fearing nationwide protests.

The transit was called off by the Greek government on Tuesday, after the issue provoked a media outcry in Greece, where Israel's 19-day-old offensive in Gaza is deeply unpopular.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, however, painted a different picture, saying that the route had been changed to avoid Greece, "because the Greek government had some issue with the off-loading of some of that shipment in their country."

Morrell declined to say what type of arms were included in the shipment.

This is while the US military claimed that the shipment of 325 containers of ammunition from the Greek port of Astakos to a US stockpile in Israel was canceled in light of the proximity of the Israeli port of Ashdod - the shipment's destination - to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Opposition parties in Greece have called for public demonstrations in Astakos on Wednesday and Thursday, raising fears of fresh nationwide protests, only weeks after violent anti-government riots were subdued.

Since the beginning of the Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip on December 27, more than 975 people have been killed and another 4,500 have been wounded.

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