Desk research against primary sources. Figures are traced to the issuing UAE authority and linked on the page.
The categories here sit on a scale rather than a strict binary: hand-holding by a married couple sits at the tolerated end, kissing on the lips sits at the prohibited end, and hugging occupies the grey area in between where duration is what actually matters — brief is generally overlooked, prolonged is what attracts a complaint. Nothing in that middle category is guaranteed either way.
Because enforcement is complaint-driven rather than proactively policed, the same embrace that passes unremarked in a busy mall on one day can be reported by an offended bystander on another, which is why watching what other couples appear to get away with tells you nothing reliable about the actual risk. Beaches and pools are the more relaxed setting, but that relaxation does not extend to kissing, which stays in the prohibited category everywhere.