Amid reports that a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel may be edging closer, Hamas said a "prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation stops putting new conditions."

More than 45,000 people were killed and over 100,000 injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry

Over 90% of Gaza's 2.1 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham head Ahmed al-Sharaa -- also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani -- told The Times in a new interview that the transitional government in Damascus does "not want any conflict, whether with Israel or anyone else."

Israel is continuing airstrikes across Syria and has occupied parts of a buffer zone -- demilitarized in a 1974 bilateral deal -- running between the two nations. Israeli leaders say their military operations are intended to prevent "extremists" from launching attacks into Israel.

But Sharaa said the new administration "will not let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks."

"The Syrian people need a break, and the strikes must end and Israel has to pull back to its previous positions," he added.

Sharaa has asked the international community to pressure Israel to stop its strikes, withdraw from the buffer zone and respect the 1974 agreement.

-ABC News' Bruno Nota and Joe Simonetti

Mouaz Moustafa, the head of the U.S.-based Syrian advocacy organization, the Syrian Emergency Task Force, told ABC News there are believed to be well over 100,000 bodies in a "massive" burial site discovered 25 miles north of Damascus.

Moustafa told ABC News from the Syrian capital that the site in al-Qutayfah consists of "massive graves" where "lines or trenches were 6 to 7 meters deep, 3 to 4 meters wide and 50 to 150 meters long."

"In my conversation with the gravediggers, they told me that four tractor trailer trucks each carrying over 150 bodies came twice a week from 2012 until 2018," Moustafa said.

"The bulldozer excavator driver described how intelligence officers forced workers to use the bulldozer to flatten and compress the bodies to make them fit and easier to bury before digging the next line or trench," he added.

The mass grave contained men, women, children and the elderly "tortured to death" by former President Bashar Assad's regime, Moustafa said.

The overthrown president was in power from 2000 to his ousting on Dec. 8. In his first statement since fleeing Syria, Assad on Monday blamed a "terrorist onslaught" for his defeat. His toppling marked the end of a 14-year conflict between Damascus and a collection of rebel groups.

Opposition groups and rescue workers are still uncovering evidence of the regime's human rights abuses. SETF believes it has identified three other mass graves so far, as well as two "smaller ones," Moustafa said.

-ABC News' Guy Davies

Israel "will have security control over Gaza with full freedom of action" after the fighting in the devastated Palestinian territory ends, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post to X on Tuesday.

Katz added that Israeli access to the strip will be comparable to its access to the occupied West Bank, which is nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority but in coordination with Israel.

"We will not allow any terrorist organization against Israeli communities and Israeli citizens from Gaza," Katz wrote. "We will not allow a return to the reality of before Oct. 7."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has faced domestic and international criticism for its failure to present a clear vision for post-war Gaza beyond the destruction of Hamas as a ruling force.

President Joe Biden is among the world leaders that have warned Israel against any post-war occupation of Gaza or permanent displacement of Palestinians.