diff --git a/apps/indexer/lib/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer.ex b/apps/indexer/lib/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer.ex
index 32d82fc48766..3f49ad01330d 100644
--- a/apps/indexer/lib/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer.ex
+++ b/apps/indexer/lib/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer.ex
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ defmodule Indexer.Fetcher.EmptyBlocksSanitizer do
           {non_empty_blocks, empty_blocks} = classify_blocks_from_result(result)
           process_non_empty_blocks(non_empty_blocks)
           process_empty_blocks(empty_blocks)
+          process_missing_blocks(unprocessed_empty_blocks_list, non_empty_blocks, empty_blocks)
 
           Logger.info("Batch of empty blocks is sanitized",
             fetcher: :empty_blocks_to_refetch
@@ -114,16 +115,48 @@ defmodule Indexer.Fetcher.EmptyBlocksSanitizer do
   end
 
   defp classify_blocks_from_result(result) do
-    result
-    |> Enum.reduce({[], []}, fn %{id: _id, result: block}, {non_empty_blocks, empty_blocks} ->
-      if Enum.empty?(block["transactions"]) do
-        {non_empty_blocks, [block_fields(block) | empty_blocks]}
-      else
-        {[block_fields(block) | non_empty_blocks], empty_blocks}
-      end
+    # A spec-compliant JSON-RPC server returns `result: null` for blocks it
+    # cannot find (e.g. pruned or reorged). Skip without crashing — the caller
+    # reconciles which requested blocks are missing and flags them for refetch.
+    Enum.reduce(result, {[], []}, fn
+      %{id: _id, result: nil}, acc ->
+        acc
+
+      %{id: _id, result: block}, {non_empty_blocks, empty_blocks} ->
+        if Enum.empty?(block["transactions"]) do
+          {non_empty_blocks, [block_fields(block) | empty_blocks]}
+        else
+          {[block_fields(block) | non_empty_blocks], empty_blocks}
+        end
     end)
   end
 
+  # Blocks the RPC returned nil for stay in `is_empty: nil, refetch_needed: false`,
+  # so without intervention the sanitizer's query would re-select them every cycle.
+  # Flag them `refetch_needed: true` to remove them from the query set and let the
+  # regular refetch path handle them.
+  defp process_missing_blocks(requested, non_empty_blocks, empty_blocks) do
+    returned = MapSet.new(non_empty_blocks ++ empty_blocks, & &1.number)
+
+    missing =
+      requested
+      |> Enum.map(& &1.number)
+      |> Enum.reject(&MapSet.member?(returned, &1))
+
+    case missing do
+      [] ->
+        :ok
+
+      numbers ->
+        Logger.warning(
+          "JSON-RPC returned nil for block numbers #{inspect(numbers)}; marking as refetch_needed",
+          fetcher: :empty_blocks_to_refetch
+        )
+
+        Block.set_refetch_needed(numbers)
+    end
+  end
+
   defp block_fields(block) do
     %{
       number: quantity_to_integer(block["number"]),
diff --git a/apps/indexer/test/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer_test.exs b/apps/indexer/test/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer_test.exs
index 6b575c2896d2..63928e1972e2 100644
--- a/apps/indexer/test/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer_test.exs
+++ b/apps/indexer/test/indexer/fetcher/empty_blocks_sanitizer_test.exs
@@ -140,6 +140,53 @@ defmodule Indexer.Fetcher.EmptyBlocksSanitizerTest do
     assert processed_block.refetch_needed == true, "invalid `refetch_needed` value set for processed block"
   end
 
+  test "marks block as refetch_needed when JSON-RPC returns nil result",
+       %{json_rpc_named_arguments: json_rpc_named_arguments} do
+    # Setup
+    block_to_process = insert(:block, is_empty: nil)
+    populate_database_with_dummy_blocks()
+    assert Repo.get!(Block, block_to_process.hash).is_empty == nil, "precondition to check setup correctness"
+    assert Repo.get!(Block, block_to_process.hash).refetch_needed == false, "precondition to check setup correctness"
+
+    encoded_expected_block_number = "0x" <> Integer.to_string(block_to_process.number, 16)
+
+    if json_rpc_named_arguments[:transport] == EthereumJSONRPC.Mox do
+      EthereumJSONRPC.Mox
+      |> stub(
+        :json_rpc,
+        fn [
+             %{
+               id: id,
+               method: "eth_getBlockByNumber",
+               params: [^encoded_expected_block_number, false]
+             }
+           ],
+           _options ->
+          {:ok, [%{id: id, result: nil}]}
+        end
+      )
+    end
+
+    EmptyBlocksSanitizer.Supervisor.Case.start_supervised!(json_rpc_named_arguments: json_rpc_named_arguments)
+
+    # Wait for the sanitizer to flag the nil-result block as refetch_needed.
+    # On the un-fixed code this never happens (the GenServer crashes on
+    # BadMapError), so `wait_for_results` would time out and fail the test.
+    processed_block =
+      wait_for_results(fn ->
+        Repo.one!(
+          from(block in Block,
+            where: block.hash == ^block_to_process.hash and block.refetch_needed == true
+          )
+        )
+      end)
+
+    assert processed_block.is_empty == nil, "is_empty should remain untouched for unresolved blocks"
+
+    assert processed_block.refetch_needed == true,
+           "refetch_needed should be set so the block exits the sanitizer's query set"
+  end
+
   test "only old enough blocks are sanitized", %{json_rpc_named_arguments: json_rpc_named_arguments} do
     # Setup
     block_to_process = insert(:block, is_empty: nil)