Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at the 17th Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Khankendi, Azerbaijan, on 4 July, warned that Israel’s "increasingly aggressive" policies under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are jeopardising peace and stability across the Middle East. Erdogan declared that Turkey and other ECO members "can neither abandon the Palestinian cause nor remain silent as the Netanyahu government turns our region into a bloodbath," citing what he said were nearly 57,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza since the start of Israel’s offensive. He called for concerted international action to halt the violence and reaffirmed Ankara’s commitment to regional security and development.