Gaza lingerie shops eyed by Hamas police

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - Hamas on Wednesday announced new regulations on shops selling women's clothes as part of a campaign to safeguard "public morality" in its Gaza enclave.

The police said shops selling women's clothes must not have dressing rooms or tinted windows, and that the mannequins on display out front must be modestly dressed.

"It is absolutely forbidden to place any photographic device inside the shop and it is forbidden to display revealing clothes in front of the shop," a statement said.

The edict came nearly two weeks after Hamas banned women from smoking water pipes in public places and is the latest step taken by the Islamist movement to crack down on the mingling of the sexes in the conservative territory.

Hamas denies seeking to impose Islamic law in Gaza, which has always been a conservative society, and has only taken a few limited steps to enforce modesty since it seized power in June 2007.

Last year it ordered women lawyers to wear the hijab, or Muslim headscarf, in court and banned women from riding on motorcycles. It has also banned men from working in women's beauty salons.