Ashraf was an excellent student at school and his teachers remember him as a clever and good pupil. However, like many Palestinians he had to make a choice after 9th grade - either to help his father financially by getting work or to continue his studies at school. He chose the first and found work as a blacksmith, the same profession as his father. Ashraf asked his father for permission to get married and to open his own blacksmith's shop but he was told he must wait for his elder brother to get married first. He used to say to his father "I want to have my own workshop so that I can compete with you and show you how skilled I am!"

Ashraf's relatives also remember him as well behaved and kind. He was particularly close to his uncle and grandmother. His grandmother said in tears, "He used to call me mama, kiss my hand and head, and sleep in my lap." He made her a small fireplace as a present. When she remembers it, she gets sad and moves away from the fireplace so as not to see it anymore. His uncle said, "I was really affected by his death. I raised him as if he was my own son."

His mother remembers his favorite foods - stuffed squash and chicken, "He loved to watch TV, especially war movies, but he also liked the outdoors. I remember once taking him to the beach. We stayed there until late and when I told him to leave he said, 'I want to stay in the sea like a fish.' He was a good swimmer. He used to dive in and out of the water pretending to be a fish. He also enjoyed playing soccer and practicing karate."

Ashraf had a deep love for Palestine. He would say during the Intifada "Why are we sitting here? Let's go and die. It's better than this oppression." Once during the Intifada his house was surrounded for 4 hours by soldiers. Ashraf , only 9 at the time, ran out of the house. He grabbed the leg of one of the soldiers and pulled him to the ground, knocking his radio from his hands. Eventually the soldiers broke into the house, throwing tear gas bombs.

On Wednesday 25 September 1996 (?), his uncle told him that they would not be working today as it was the first day of clashes in Gaza. Ashraf said: " Let's go to work, and if anything happens we will act as everyone else does."

During the morning someone told them that their little brother, 9 years old, had been killed in the clashes. Ashraf left the workshop on the day of the clashes and, with an iron bar in his hand, joined the demonstration against the occupation. His father, uncle and the rest of the family followed later. They found Ashraf helping the injured and they joined him. At that moment, an Israeli helicopter started shooting and people started to run in all directions, losing each other. The uncle started to look for Ashraf, helping people who were injured at the same time. When he couldn't find him, he went to search in another area but was still unable to find him.

Later, his uncle and his father went to the hospital and checked the injured to see if Ashraf was amongst them. However, Ashraf didn't have his identity card on him, so they could not find him on the list of injured or killed. His father entered the morgue to see if he could identify his son among the martyrs, but he couldn't stand the sight of bodies and blood everywhere. He asked Ashraf's uncle to look, and he recognized Ashraf because of the calouses on his hands.

The witnesses at the site said that Ashraf was present while a Palestinian policeman, Khalil Nseir, was shot. As Ashraf ran to try to help the policeman, he was shot in the head and died instantly.

Ashraf's little brother, Mahmoud, 8 years old, remembers: "He used to bring us anything we wanted. Especially during celebrations, when he used to buy us all new clothes." His little sister Yasmin cried and ran away when asked about him.

Children from the neighbourhood still remember him for his kindness. "He used to gather us at night to read us stories", one remembers, "After work he would bring us sunflower seeds and sweets. We used to call him Al-Ass'ad ("the lion")."