When former Guantanamo prisoner Asadullah Haroon views images of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons, he recalls his own torment and abuse in US detention centers.

“This represents the utmost form of oppression,” he states. “Being labeled a terrorist leaves you defenseless. Without a doubt, it's a similar process; they are torturing people the same way. I believe the Americans devised it and the Israelis are executing it.”

Haroon, who successfully sued the US for unlawful imprisonment in 2021, was detained without charge in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for 16 years after his 2007 arrest. He believes Palestinians in Israeli jails are suffering similarly.

“During my initial arrest days, I was beaten to the point where I was immobile, experiencing insomnia and assaults for days. Many prisoners were bitten by dogs and received minimal medical care,” he explains. “Physical torture was severe, but mental torture was worse. Torture techniques differ little between Palestinian, Guantanamo, Bagram, and Abu Ghraib prisoners.”

Attacked by Dogs and Deprived of Water

According to Gaza's Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, 54 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since Israel’s deadly offensive in Gaza began last October. The UN Human Rights Office in Palestine has been receiving numerous reports of mass detentions, prisoner abuse, and forced disappearances of Palestinians, with harrowing testimonies surfacing on social media from released detainees.

In April, Haaretz disclosed details of Palestinian prisoners abused without trial, including beatings, dog attacks, forced flag kissing, cursing the Prophet Muhammad, water deprivation, electricity cuts, insufficient food, and being stripped naked.

Additionally, one inmate reported: “A guard then began inserting carrots into prisoners' anuses.”

The abuse in Israeli prisons, often filmed by soldiers, strongly resembles the treatment of Iraqi and Afghan detainees in US-run prisons like Abu Ghraib, where US soldiers photographed themselves humiliating prisoners in 2003.

Human rights organizations, including the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), have urged the UN's special rapporteur on torture to take immediate action against the “systematic abuse, torture, and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli facilities.”

The joint submission by Adalah, HaMoked, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and PCATI outlines a “brutal escalation” of systemic violence and maltreatment of Palestinians in Israeli custody in seven facilities since October’s conflict began.

Lawyers and activists argue that Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners exhibits clear traits of “US-style” torture.

“Over the past 20 years, the US has set a regrettable example of prisoner treatment,” says human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who has been representing Guantanamo detainees for over two decades, including Haroon.

“Whether it's ISIS copying orange uniforms, or countries like Israel adopting abusive interrogation methods, it all traces back to Guantanamo and other secret US prisons,” Stafford Smith states. “It's time for the US to acknowledge its grave mistakes and demand a return to civilized behavior globally.”

Held Without Charge

Of the 9,500 political prisoners, over 3,500 Palestinians are held without charge in Israeli prisons. Many were imprisoned prior to the October Gaza war, with numerous arrests following the conflict.

Detainees held without charge face indefinite detention by the Israeli military based on “secret evidence” unavailable to them or their lawyers, considered hostages without legal options by activists and rights lawyers.

Individuals subjected to similar US-led detentions, torture, and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan share this viewpoint.

Moazzam Begg, a human rights advocate who spent three years in Guantanamo and was also detained in Afghanistan’s Bagram prison, draws parallels with Israeli administrative detention tactics against Palestinians.

“There’s a clear parallel between Gaza, Guantanamo, and the war on terror,” Begg observes. “The mistreatment, including stripping naked, religious and racial abuse - these parallels are unmistakable.”

Begg recounts his own experiences 20 years ago, witnessing torture and abuse in Bagram and Guantanamo. “I watched the abuse and murder of other detainees by American soldiers,” he recalls.

“These soldiers replicated these torture methods in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, featuring similar inhumane and degrading treatments,” he says.

Rights groups urge an immediate international investigation to hold accountable those responsible for the torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Human rights organization Euro-Med Monitor, documenting former Palestinian prisoners’ testimonies, finds that “the Israeli military routinely commits crimes of arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, willful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, sexual violence, and denial of a fair trial.”

The group adds: “Detainees were also denied food and medical care, including critical treatment, faced cruel and degrading acts, and suffered psychological abuse, including threats of rape and death.”

Despite calls for justice from rights groups and lawyers, Begg remains pessimistic about immediate change. “I see no hope concerning international law or UN resolutions which have been violated numerous times,” he reflects.

“Israel's ongoing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and targeting of children persist despite our claims of upholding human rights and international law globally,” Begg concludes.