THe purpose is to "prepare" northern Israel/southern Lebanon for future Hezbollah actions and attacks- drone attacks, artillery fire, militant infiltration - if Hezbollah does any of those actions now without first dismantling Israel's military infrastructure in northern Israel, Hezbollah will take more losses and be less effective.
JUst like Russia first destroyed Ukraine's air defense network in eastern Ukraine before it started using its airforce in an active and voluminous manner.
Weakening Israel now surely helps Palestinians. They're losing men because its a tough fight with a potent enemy- who fights a good/prepared/ready/ organized/resourced national military like US or Israeli army without taking losses? There is progress now because Israel is unable to kill Palestinians or Hezbollahis without taking losses- Israel's enemies are used to taking losses during conflict with Israel but Israel isnt used to taking large losses when fighting its enemies, that demoralizes it.
Sure.