President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris praised the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli forces in Gaza on Thursday, while describing Sinwar’s death as an opportunity to end the war in Gaza without Hamas in power.

Biden said that it is a “good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world.” He compared the killing to that of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and said that “Israel has had every right to eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas,” while adding that Hamas is no longer capable of replicating the Oct. 7 attack.

“There has rarely been a military campaign like this, with Hamas leaders living and moving through hundreds of miles of tunnels, organized in multiple stories underground, determined to protect themselves with no care for the civilians suffering above ground,” Biden continued. “Today, however, proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes.”

He said that he would speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (a conversation that has since occurred) and other Israeli leaders soon “to congratulate them, to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people.”

Biden said that Sinwar’s death presents an “opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power” and a “political settlement,” to which Sinwar had been an “insurmountable obstacle.”

“That obstacle no longer exists,” Biden said. “But much work remains before us.”

The Biden administration had pressured Israel to refrain from large-scale operations in Rafah, where Sinwar was reportedly found and killed by  routine IDF activities, rather than a targeted assassination raid.

Vice President Kamala Harris, delivering brief remarks to the press before a campaign stop in Wisconsin, largely echoed Biden.

“The leader of Hamas is dead, and justice has been served, and the United States, Israel and the entire world are better off as a result,” Harris said. “Today, I can only hope that the families of the victims of Hamas feel a sense and measure of relief.”

Harris said that Israel has a right to defend itself and eliminate the Hamas threat, describing the Sinwar killing as “clear progress toward that goal. Hamas is decimated and its leadership is eliminated.”

“This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, and it must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self determination,” Harris said. “And it is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power.”

She also vowed that any terrorist who kills or threatens Americans will be brought to justice.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) largely echoed the president and vice president in his own statement on the Israeli operation, which was first shared with Jewish Insider.

“Sinwar has the blood of countless innocents in Israel and Gaza on his hands, and the world is a much better place without him,” Schumer said. “Let his death be a message to all who seek to terrorize Israel and the Jewish people.”

He likewise framed the killing as an opportunity to move swiftly toward peace — a view echoed by numerous other senior congressional Democrats in their own statements.

“Sinwar in his beliefs and actions have caused so much pain to the Israeli and Palestinian people,” Schumer said. “I pray that his elimination from the scene will clear a path to urgently and immediately bring home all the hostages – including the [seven] Americans –  and negotiate an end to hostilities that will ensure the security of the Israeli people and provide full humanitarian relief and a new path forward for  the people of Gaza.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) praised Netanyahu, and called on the Biden administration to impose renewed pressure on Iran.

“Justice has once again been served by the brave men and women of the Israeli military,” Johnson said. “Sinwar’s life was the embodiment of evil and marked by hatred for all that is good in the world. His death brings hope for all those who seek to live in freedom, and relief to Israelis he has sought to oppress.”

Johnson said that Sinwar’s death “is not the end of Israel’s fight for survival,” saying the administration must now work with Israel to “apply a maximum pressure campaign against the head of the snake: Iran.”

“Despite the Biden-Harris Administration condemning his strategies, Prime Minister Netanyahu has produced multiple watershed victories for Israel such that we are on the precipice of a new day of security and freedom in the Middle East,” Johnson said. “We cannot let this moment go to waste.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also said that the U.S. should be following in Israel’s footsteps.

“Yahya Sinwar was the mastermind of the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, and today, families shattered on October 7th have a small measure of justice,” McConnell said. “Israel has yet again demonstrated what it means to impose costs on adversaries, and America ought to take notes.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) celebrated the killing without making reference to next steps.

“Today, the State of Israel, the Middle East and the free world is a safer place with the death of Yahya Sinwar,” Jeffries said. “Terror will never win.”

Other pro-Israel lawmakers said the U.S. and the international community should use the killing as an opportunity to pressure Hamas to fully and unconditionally surrender. Some Democratic lawmakers who have been more critical of Israel’s operations in Gaza called Sinwar’s death an opportunity to intensify efforts to reach a negotiated cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Nearly all of the most vocal opponents of Israel’s operations in Gaza have been silent since the news of Sinwar’s death broke, not issuing any statements on the subject.

One exception: Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), who suggested that Israel has been slow-walking a cease-fire deal, without offering a word about Sinwar himself.

“No more excuses or delays. Now is the time for a ceasefire and return of hostages deal. No more killing. No more destruction. No more delays,” Pocan said. “[Biden] must push all parties to accept peace with a ceasefire. It is the logical thing to do.”