Some comments after Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin:

"The war against terror has not ended and will continue day after day, everywhere. ... This is a difficult struggle that all the countries of the enlightened world must participate in. It is the natural right of the Jewish people, like that of all nations in the world that love life, to hunt down those who rise to destroy it." — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

---

"The operation attests to complete lunacy. The decision came from the gut and not from the head." — Avshalom Vilan, a lawmaker from Israel's dovish Yahad Party.

---

"This is one of the biggest crimes that the Israeli government has committed." — Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.

---

Yasser Arafat "is like a man who was hit on the head because they killed Yassin and now they could kill him. He feels his turn is next and he is sad and worried." — an aide to Arafat, describing the Palestinian leader's reaction.

---

"Yassin is a man in a nation, and a nation in a man. And the retaliation of this nation will be of the size of this man. ... You will see deeds not words." — Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

---

"The Zionists didn't carry out their operation without getting the consent of the terrorist American administration, and it must take responsibility for this crime." — Hamas statement.

---

"We are deeply troubled by this morning's incident in Gaza." — White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

---

"What peace process, when the situation is on fire? Nobody would have imagined that matters would go this far. ... Its repercussions are unknown." — President Hosni Mubarak, on how the assassination would affect the Israel-Palestinian peace process.

---

"We are annoyed and pained by what happened despite our arduous and persistent efforts with all sides, including the Israeli government, to refrain from its policy of military escalation." — King Abdullah II of Jordan.

---

Israel has the right to protect itself against terrorist attacks, but "is not, however, entitled to carry out extra-judicial killings." Yassin's assassination "has inflamed the situation ... Violence is no substitute for the political negotiations which are necessary for a just and lasting settlement." — European Union foreign ministers' statement.