Cairo  - Egypt opened the Rafah crossing at the border with the Gaza Strip Wednesday to allow a total of 22 Palestinians to return to Gaza, security sources said.

The Gazans, who were receiving treatment in Egyptian hospitals, were allowed to go back to their homes after they were hospitalized, security sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

On May 10, the border at Rafah was opened for three days to allow some 150 Palestinians to receive hospital treatment.

Cairo closed the last breach in its border with the Gaza Strip on February 3, ending free movement for Palestinians through a hole blown in the border wall by Palestinian gunmen.

For 12 days in January, at least 350,000 Palestinians flooded Egypt's border towns to stock up on supplies made scarce by an Israeli blockade of the territory imposed in response to rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli border towns. (dpa)