Carter: Israel has 150 nuclear weapons

Israel has at least 150 atomic weapons in its illegal nuclear arsenal, according to former US president Jimmy Carter.

Carter cited the size of Israel's nuclear arsenal when asked about US policy towards Iran's civilian nuclear program. Israel also refuses to join the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and outside public inspection and access to its nuclear sites.

Speaking at the annual Hay literature festival in Wales, Carter also described Israel's continuing siege of Gaza among the world's worst-ever human rights crimes." on earth." "One of the greatest human rights crimes on earth is the starvation and imprisonment of 1.6 million Palestinians," the former Nobel peace prize winner told a news conference.

He cited statistics which he said showed the nutritional intake of some Palestinian children was below that of children in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as saying the European position on Israel could be best described as "supine."

In a separate interview with the Guardian newspaper on Monday, Carter also called on Britain and other European governments to break from the US over the international embargo on Gaza. Its failure to criticize Israel's siege is "embarrassing," he said.

The EU should reassess its stance if Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza.

"Let the Europeans lift the embargo and say we will protect the rights of Palestinians in Gaza, and even send observers to Rafah gate," he said.

The former US president revealed the Quartet's policy to boycott Hamas unless it recognized Israel and fulfilled two conditions had been drafted by "a very militant supporter of Israel," Elliot Abrams at the White House's national security council at the White House.

In his speech at the festival, he also spoke of his "horror" at America's involvement in torturing prisoners, saying he wanted the next US president to promise never to do so again.