Gaza's Hamas police ban women from smoking shisha in cafes

Gaza: Gaza's Hamas rulers are banning women from smoking shisha or water pipes in cafes, claiming it violates tradition and leads to divorce.

Plain-clothes security officials saw the order be carried out in Gaza City cafes over the weekend.

Police spokesman Ayman Batneiji said on Sunday that officers are enforcing Gazan traditions. He said husbands often divorce women seen smoking in public. However he offered no evidence to support the claim.

The pipes are popular with both men and women in Gaza.

Since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, the Islamic Hamas has been trying to impose its strict interpretation of Islam on residents.

Schoolgirls, for example, have been ordered to wear modest attire and male hair stylists are banned from women's salons.