diff --git a/src/consume.ts b/src/consume.ts
index a365656bb..35a23041b 100644
--- a/src/consume.ts
+++ b/src/consume.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import { registerCommandWithLogging } from "./commands";
 import { LOCAL_CONNECTION_ID } from "./constants";
 import { getExtensionContext } from "./context/extension";
 import { showJsonPreview } from "./documentProviders/message";
-import { logError } from "./errors";
+import { extractResponseBody, logError } from "./errors";
 import type { ResourceLoader } from "./loaders";
 import { CCloudResourceLoader, DirectResourceLoader, LocalResourceLoader } from "./loaders";
 import { Logger } from "./logging";
@@ -504,7 +504,9 @@ function messageViewerStartPollingCommand(
       /* In case of network issue, the current assumption is that the user is
       going to see auth related error alerts. Logging and error displays is WIP. */
       if (error instanceof ResponseError) {
-        const payload = await error.response.json();
+        // parse defensively: on an empty body a raw `.json()` throws `Unexpected end of JSON
+        // input`, which would abort this catch block before the stream pauses or the user is told.
+        const payload = await extractResponseBody(error);
         // FIXME: this response error coming from the middleware that has to be present to avoid openapi error about missing middlewares
         if (!payload?.aborted) {
           const status = error.response.status;
diff --git a/src/errors.test.ts b/src/errors.test.ts
index a6ba83230..13f0a6d25 100644
--- a/src/errors.test.ts
+++ b/src/errors.test.ts
@@ -206,6 +206,16 @@ describe("errors.ts extractResponseBody()", () => {
     assert.strictEqual(body, textResponse);
   });
 
+  it("should return an empty string for an empty response body", async () => {
+    // an empty body makes `JSON.parse("")` throw `Unexpected end of JSON input`; the helper must
+    // swallow that and fall back to the (empty) text body rather than propagating the SyntaxError.
+    const error = createResponseError(500, "Internal Server Error", "");
+
+    const body = await extractResponseBody(error);
+
+    assert.strictEqual(body, "");
+  });
+
   it("should throw if the error is not a ResponseError", async () => {
     const error = new Error("test");
     await assert.rejects(