Speaking to Egyptian media, Abbas said, "I cannot ask Egypt to stop the military operation in the region, and we are aware of the nature of the Egyptian national action."
Abbas stressed the need to demolish illegal tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, pointing out that he had called on the Egyptian authorities multiple times to close the tunnels. He added that the tunnels have created 1,800 millionaires in the Gaza Strip through their exploitation of the smuggling.
He claims that he had proposed that Egypt create a 30-meter water-filled trench along its border and to destroy the homes of Rafah residents who hosted tunnels, saying that that "no country in the world suffers from the problem of tunnels, only Egypt and Palestine."
Abbas pointedly didn't mention the tunnels that Hamas constructed to attack Israeli civilians in the Negev, which is a bit worse than the problem of Gazans making millions by importing cars and washing machines. He also did not say a word about tunnels being used to smuggle weapons into Gaza.
Abbas is fully behind Egypt's siege of Gaza, and he fully accepts Egypt's narrative that it is necessary for defense. Yet when Israel is directly targeted by tunnels under its border - not for smuggling but for kidnap and murder - Abbas is against any military action.
Human Rights Watch has called the tunnels a "lifeline" to Gaza's economy. Amnesty International has previously said that Israel has no right to target civilian smuggling tunnels in military operations as Egypt is today.