According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), as of January 2024, Israel had approximately 90 nuclear warheads.
They include 30 gravity bombs for delivery by F-16 or F-15 aircraft, 50 warheads for land-based Jericho III ballistic missiles and 10 nuclear cruise missiles for Israel's Dolphin-class submarines.
When Did Israel's Nuclear Program Start?
The US government first learned of Israel's secret nuclear program at the Negev Nuclear Research Center (NNRC) near Dimona in 1960, according to US government documents declassified in 2015. By 1974, Israel had already amassed a nuclear stockpile, the CIA estimated at the time.
The center was reportedly built in the late 1950s with the French assistance.
Israel could have had 750–1,110 kilograms of plutonium at the start of 2023, enough to build up to 277 nuclear warheads, SIPRI says.
What is Behind Israel's Policy of Nuclear Ambiguity?
Israel has never officially confirmed nor denied that it possesses nuclear weapons. Israel is also not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In a February 20 op-ed for the Washington Post, US security experts claimed the policy was justified during the Cold War as Israel feared the USSR could share nuclear technology with Egypt or Syria for the sake of balance.
Nonetheless, Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv publicly proposed using nuclear weapons in the Gaza strip in the wake of Hamas' October 7 attack.