I think the parent is referring to the situation before Oct 7th and likely going back to Israel's withdrawal in 2005. The detail I think he's trying to put forward is that before Israel's withdrawal the settlers in Gaza operated a flower export business of about that economic magnitude and that the greenhouses and infrastructure that was used for that business was left after Israel withdrew. There is some discussion of this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gush_Katif#Economy
We're talking about the history of the conflict which I think is important. The Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005 is part of how we got here so I think it's important for people following the conflict to know the details and not just respond emotionally to the terrible images of war- which I agree are disturbing.
Please do mention about the complete sea, air, and land blockade of Gaza, when you do that. You can mention the raid on Gaza freedom flotilla as well.
While Israel supposedly disengaged from Gaza, it had conducted similar attacks with hundreds of human casualties under the pretense of operational readiness, training, and the notorious mowing the lawn operations.
Of course some of them were so called retribution and responses, which mostly begins by rockets on Israel soil, but not by the brutal oppression it administers to Gazans.
I think the parent is referring to the situation before Oct 7th and likely going back to Israel's withdrawal in 2005. The detail I think he's trying to put forward is that before Israel's withdrawal the settlers in Gaza operated a flower export business of about that economic magnitude and that the greenhouses and infrastructure that was used for that business was left after Israel withdrew. There is some discussion of this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gush_Katif#Economy
[snippety snip]