Biden’s administration confirmed Monday that Israel had killed a Hamas top official in its ongoing fight against the terrorist group.

Jake Sullivan is the national-security advisor for the Biden administration. He spoke Monday to reporters and stated in his opening remarks, that Israel had killed senior Hamas leaders, including Marwan Issa, Hamas’ number three commander. Issa, the Hamas military wing’s deputy commander and man believed responsible for the terror attacks on southern Israel in October 7, was speaking to reporters Monday. In his opening remarks, Sullivan said that Israel killed senior Hamas commanders including its number three in charge, Marwan Issa.

“Israel has made important progress against Hamas.” The Israelis have destroyed a large number of Hamas Battalions, and killed thousands Hamas fighters including senior commanders. Marwan Issa was Hamas’s third-in-command when he was killed by Israel in an operation last week. “The rest of Hamas’s top leaders may be hiding deep within the Hamas tunnel system, and justice will also come for them,” Sullivan said.

He outlined the humanitarian concerns of the Biden administration and the topics that President Biden had discussed with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu. They discussed Israel’s plans for a major military operation in Rafah (a city located on the southeast part of Gaza, bordering Egypt).

“The President told the Prime Minister again today that our goal is to defeat Hamas. But we believe that you need a cohesive and sustainable strategy in order to achieve this,” Sullivan said. He urged Israel to “stabilize” the areas in Gaza where most of the fighting took place to prevent Hamas re-emerging.

The Biden administration has expressed concern about civilians arriving in Rafah, from other parts on the Gaza Strip. Sullivan accused Israel that it did not have a plan to help these civilians once the military campaign began.

“Our position says that Hamas shouldn’t be allowed to have a safe-haven in Rafah, or anywhere else. A major ground operation would be a grave mistake. This would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already grave humanitarian crisis. It would also deepen the chaos in Gaza.

Sullivan reported that Netanyahu had agreed to send a group of military, intelligence, humanitarian, and other officials to Washington, D.C., in order to hear U.S. concerns about the invasion plan of Rafah. Biden and Netanyahu discussed ongoing negotiations to reach a temporary truce in exchange for Hamas’ release of the hostages. Sullivan stated that Hamas can end the war if it so chooses and called on more pressure to be put on Hamas.

The anger of left-wing activists, who support Palestine with a militant attitude, and Democratic Party leaders has primarily been directed at Israel’s behavior during the war. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority leader (D., N.Y.), who is the highest ranking Jewish official in the U.S. called for Israel’s new elections last week to replace Netanyahu, the democratically elected wartime president.