Israel Nuclear Stockpile Increased to 90 Warheads: Report

Israel has allegedly increased its nuclear stockpile from 80 warheads in 2019 to 90 in 2020, according to a report published Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), a leading global arms watchdog.  

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Sipri said that the true number could be higher as the Jewish state does not officially comment on its nuclear capabilities. 

"There is significant uncertainty about the size of Israel's nuclear arsenal and its warhead capabilities," it said. 

"Israel continues to maintain its long-standing policy of nuclear opacity: it neither officially confirms nor denies that it possesses nuclear weapons." 

Israel -one of the world's nine nuclear powers-  is one of only three countries, along with India and Pakistan, not to sign the 1968 non-proliferation treaty (NPT), and is widely believed to have the region's only atomic arsenal.

The watchdog said that it believes Israel has around 30 gravity bombs that can be delivered by F-16I aircraft, and up to 50 warheads that can be delivered by land-based ballistic missiles such as the Jericho III - which, according to foreign reports, has a range of 5,500 km.

"It is possible that some of Israel's F-15 aircraft may also serve a nuclear strike role, but this is unconfirmed," Sipri said. 

The report also said that the locations of the storage sites for Israel's warheads, "which are thought to be stored partially unassembled," are unknown.

Declassified government documents from both Israel and the United States show that Israel began building a stockpile of nuclear weapons in the early 1960s, likely with the assistance of the U.S., Sipri said. 

Sipri estimates that the nine nuclear-armed states - the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea - currently possess together an estimated 13,400 nuclear weapons.