With Hezbollah on the back burner, Netanyahu shifts focus back to Gaza

The choice of the Netzarim Corridor for Netanyahu's visit was likely advised by Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, as it was it is far enough away from the intense fighting taking place between Hamas and the Israeli army in Gaza's north— particularly the Jabalia refugee camp.

However, security concerns were not the only reason this area was chosen for his visit. It also carries symbolic importance. The corridor was established near the site of an Israeli settlement whose construction had started in the same area in 1972. It was also called Netzarim and was a known bastion of fanatic Zionism.

Footage of Netzarim settlers strongly resisting their eviction and leaving in tears upon Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 is still vivid in the minds of many 30+ year-olds. The eviction of the settlement marked the end of Israel's occupation of Gaza, which started following the 1967 war.

Speaking to cameras there, Netanyahu stated that the Israeli army had destroyed Hamas's military capabilities and was working to ensure it would never again be able to rule. "Hamas will not be in Gaza", he said.

Hamas appears to be making its last show of resistance, having been eliminated from most of southern and central Gaza. It is now fighting to the last gasp in northern Gaza, which is being turned into complete rubble by the Israeli army.

Hamas' potential total eradication in northern Gaza will transform much of the circumstances on the ground, including the fate of hostages held by the group, thought to number around 100. With the Israeli army combing northern Gaza inch-by-inch, they could very well stumble upon hostages that could still be alive—or their remains if dead.

The hostages are the only remaining card of significance that Hamas holds in its hand, and it is extremely unlikely that Netanyahu will give Hamas what it wants in exchange for them: a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Meanwhile, whether the Palestinian Authority (PA), which runs the occupied West Bank, will be allowed to take responsibility for Gaza also remains uncertain. But Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners, who have outright rejected any prospect of a Palestinian state, are no fans of the PA either and have been actively undermining its ability to govern.

The Trump factor

Meanwhile, Netanyahu eagerly awaits Donald Trump's upcoming return to the White House. During his first term, Trump recognised Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and ordered the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Israeli premier is hoping Trump will also green-light Israel's annexation of the West Bank, driving the final nail in the coffin of the dream of Palestinian statehood. In fact, just after Trump's election win, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister, said now was the time for full Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.

And Trump's cabinet picks have delighted Netanyahu and his ruling coalition. Most are staunch backers of Israel, and some— like Mike Huckabee, Trump's pick for US ambassador to Israel—are evangelical Christian Zionists who also believe there is no such thing as a Palestinian.

Read more: Trump picks shed light on Christian Zionists' dark fielty to Israel

Trump will most likely recycle his 2020 blueprint for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, which calls for recognising Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements and a unified Jerusalem, giving the Palestinians alternative land in the desert and connecting the remaining part of the West Bank with Gaza via a bridge or a tunnel.

In the four years since Trump was president, Israel has been tirelessly working to establish facts on the ground in the West Bank. It has demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes and seized hundreds of hectares of Palestinian farmland.

And in Gaza, the Israeli army has expanded Netzarim Corridor, apparently to turn it into a military base or a major checkpoint that separates northern Gaza from the south. That could reveal a plan to make movement between the two parts of the Strip impossible for Palestinians without Israeli approval.

Israel has also expanded the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt. More troops have been deployed there, and there are now hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians crammed into a so-called humanitarian zone in the southwest of the Strip, between Netzarim and Philadelphi.

Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, Israel has hired private companies to demolish the Palestinian homes that have not yet been destroyed by air strikes. There is a sense that once this area is entirely cleared, Israel will establish a permanent presence in the north.

Read more: Israel's war on Gaza enters its "darkest moment" in the north

In southern Gaza, Israel is expected to contract private companies to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza. By taking full control of aid, it will have control over what is the last vestige of Palestinian governance in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the fat of the hundreds of thousands of remaining Palestinians now squeezed in south-western Gaza is an issue that could be settled in the coming months or years and will largely depend on whether Egypt will succumb to pressure to take these Palestinians in or whether Israel will "get rid of them" some other way.