US holding up weapons shipments to Israel for last two weeks, source says

US President Joe Biden's administration has been holding up several Boeing-made arms shipments to Israel for at least two weeks, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The shipments involved Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), which convert dumb bombs into precision-guided ones and Small Diameter Bombs.

The sources did not elaborate further.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment. The news of a delayed arms shipment was first reported by Axios over the weekend, and Politico first reported on the types of arms delayed and the reasoning on Tuesday.

Without addressing whether there had been a suspension in arms shipments, the Pentagon said on Monday that there had not been a policy decision to withhold arms from Israel, America's closest Middle East ally. 

Washington has said, however, it could not support an Israeli invasion of the Gaza border city of Rafah without an appropriate and credible humanitarian plan.

Shipments include precision explosives kits

The delayed shipments include small diameter tail kits for unguided bombs made by Boeing that are designed to make them more accurate, the source said, adding several direct commercial sales that were in process for Israel were also being held up. A pause in new sales would impede Israel's ability to restock weapons it has used.

A senior Israeli official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, did not confirm any specific hold-up in arms supplies but appeared to take the reports in stride: “As the prime minister has already said, if we have to fight with our fingernails, then we’ll do what we have to do.”

This is a developing story.