Mohammed Assaf is a Palestinian journalism student and winner of the second season of the Arab Idol casting competition, which had its final on June 22, 2013. He grew up in the Gaza Strip. Assaf's grandparents come from southern Palestine and fled their homeland in 1948 on the occasion of the Israeli War of Independence. His father worked as an accountant in Misrata, Libya, and Assaf was born there. When he was four years old, the family moved to a refugee camp in Chan Junis. At the age of six he started singing in a choir. He later made his living as a wedding singer. To get to the casting in Egypt, he had to bribe Egyptian border officials with money begged from Hamas. The hotel in Cairo where the event was held was already closed so he climbed over a fence to get inside. All start numbers had already been assigned, but an acquaintance from Saudi Arabia gave up his participation "because he would sing better".