Ties With Israel Sour as Erdogan Seizes Gaza Issue Before Election.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey greeted a rally in Istanbul on Friday to protest the deaths of 60 people in Gaza.CreditMurat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Palace

ISTANBUL — The deaths of at least 60 people in Gaza this week have not only inflamed relations between Turkey and Israel. They have added a powerful new element to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s re-election campaign, as he seizes the issue to further a longstanding ambition to position himself as a leader among Muslim states.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict may no longer be high on the agenda of world affairs, but it has taken over the campaign before voting on June 24, when Mr. Erdogan hopes to be re-elected to a more powerful presidency.

On Friday, Mr. Erdogan called a large political rally in support of Palestinians and gathered leaders of the 57-member Organization for Islamic Conference in Istanbul for a summit meeting to protest the deaths on Monday, the same day President Trump moved the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a step many had hoped would come with a peace settlement.

“As Muslims we do not and cannot do anything other than denounce,” Mr. Erdogan told the crowd of thousands waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and guests who included the Palestinian prime minister. But he warned, “One day the mistakes of this administration will rebound on America.”

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Since the deaths in Gaza Turkey’s diplomatic feud with Israel has deepened daily. Both countries have recalled ambassadors and consuls in an escalating tit-for-tat, and ministers have joined the fray with saber rattling in interviews with the news media.

Turkey’s newspapers, most of which are pro-government, have been filled with the issue, headlining Mr. Erdogan’s stern stance against Israel and championing the Palestinian cause.

Throughout the week Mr. Erdogan issued a flurry of statements to Turkey’s obedient media outlets, accusing Israel of genocide — “What Israel is doing is genocide” — and railing at the powerlessness of the United Nations to take any stand against Israel.

“Here is the United Nations, finished, drained out, collapsed in the face of all those incidents,” he told fallen soldiers’ families invited to break the Ramadan fast in the presidential palace in Ankara. “If Israel’s bullying is met with more silence, the world will rapidly be dragged into a chaos where thuggery prevails.”

He added that Ankara was pressing members of the United Nations Security Council to be more active, but that he had not been able to reach the Secretary General of the United Nations. He said the Turkish chief of staff and foreign ministry were working to evacuate the injured from Gaza.