diff --git a/packages/helix-shared-storage/src/storage.js b/packages/helix-shared-storage/src/storage.js
index 8ccb06e6..d2dc3b9b 100644
--- a/packages/helix-shared-storage/src/storage.js
+++ b/packages/helix-shared-storage/src/storage.js
@@ -33,6 +33,11 @@ import processQueue from '@adobe/helix-shared-process-queue';
 const gzip = promisify(zlib.gzip);
 const gunzip = promisify(zlib.gunzip);
 
+/**
+ * Maximum number of objects to delete in one operation.
+ */
+const MAX_DELETE_OBJECTS = 1000;
+
 /**
  * @typedef {import('@aws-sdk/client-s3').CommandInput} CommandInput
  * @typedef {import('./storage.d').Bucket} BucketType
@@ -557,28 +562,34 @@ class Bucket {
   }
 
   async rmdir(src) {
-    const { log } = this;
+    const { bucket, log } = this;
     src = sanitizeKey(src);
     log.info(`fetching list of files to delete from ${this.bucket}/${src}`);
     const items = await this.list(src);
 
+    // slice into chunks of MAX_DELETE_OBJECTS at most
+    const chunks = Array.from({
+      length: Math.ceil(items.length / MAX_DELETE_OBJECTS),
+    }, (v, i) => items.slice(i * MAX_DELETE_OBJECTS, i * MAX_DELETE_OBJECTS + MAX_DELETE_OBJECTS));
+
     let oks = 0;
     let errors = 0;
-    await processQueue(items, async (item) => {
-      const { key } = item;
-      log.info(`deleting ${this.bucket}/${key}`);
+    await processQueue(chunks, async (chunk) => {
+      log.info(`deleting ${chunk.length} from ${bucket}`);
       const input = {
         Bucket: this.bucket,
-        Key: key,
+        Delete: {
+          Objects: items.map((item) => ({ Key: item.key })),
+        },
       };
 
       try {
         // delete on s3 and r2 (mirror) in parallel
-        await this.sendToS3andR2(DeleteObjectCommand, input);
+        await this.sendToS3andR2(DeleteObjectsCommand, input);
         oks += 1;
       } catch (e) {
         // at least 1 cmd failed
-        log.warn(`error while deleting ${key}: ${e.$metadata.httpStatusCode}`);
+        log.warn(`error while deleting ${items.length} from ${bucket}: ${e.$metadata.httpStatusCode}`);
         errors += 1;
       }
     }, 64);
diff --git a/packages/helix-shared-storage/test/storage.test.js b/packages/helix-shared-storage/test/storage.test.js
index a3495d6a..a908c2e3 100644
--- a/packages/helix-shared-storage/test/storage.test.js
+++ b/packages/helix-shared-storage/test/storage.test.js
@@ -868,25 +868,21 @@ describe('Storage test', () => {
     nock('https://helix-code-bus.s3.fake.amazonaws.com')
       .get('/?list-type=2&prefix=owner%2Frepo%2Fnew-branch%2F')
       .reply(200, listReply.response)
-      .delete(/.*/)
-      .times(10)
-      .reply((uri) => {
-        deletes.s3.push(uri);
-        // reject first uri
-        if (deletes.s3.length === 1) {
-          return [404];
-        }
+      .post('/?delete=')
+      .reply(async (uri, body) => {
+        const xml = await xml2js.parseStringPromise(body);
+        xml.Delete.Object.forEach((o) => {
+          deletes.s3.push(o.Key[0]);
+        });
         return [204];
       });
     nock(`https://helix-code-bus.${CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID}.r2.cloudflarestorage.com`)
-      .delete(/.*/)
-      .times(10)
-      .reply((uri) => {
-        deletes.r2.push(uri);
-        // reject first uri
-        if (deletes.r2.length === 1) {
-          return [404];
-        }
+      .post('/?delete=')
+      .reply(async (uri, body) => {
+        const xml = await xml2js.parseStringPromise(body);
+        xml.Delete.Object.forEach((o) => {
+          deletes.r2.push(o.Key[0]);
+        });
         return [204];
       });
 
@@ -896,19 +892,35 @@ describe('Storage test', () => {
     deletes.s3.sort();
     deletes.r2.sort();
     const expectedDeletes = [
-      '/owner/repo/ref/.circleci/config.yml?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/.gitignore?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/.vscode/launch.json?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/.vscode/settings.json?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/README.md?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/helix_logo.png?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/htdocs/favicon.ico?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/htdocs/style.css?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/index.md?x-id=DeleteObject',
-      '/owner/repo/ref/src/html.pre.js?x-id=DeleteObject',
+      'owner/repo/ref/.circleci/config.yml',
+      'owner/repo/ref/.gitignore',
+      'owner/repo/ref/.vscode/launch.json',
+      'owner/repo/ref/.vscode/settings.json',
+      'owner/repo/ref/README.md',
+      'owner/repo/ref/helix_logo.png',
+      'owner/repo/ref/htdocs/favicon.ico',
+      'owner/repo/ref/htdocs/style.css',
+      'owner/repo/ref/index.md',
+      'owner/repo/ref/src/html.pre.js',
     ];
-    assert.deepEqual(deletes.s3, expectedDeletes);
-    assert.deepEqual(deletes.r2, expectedDeletes);
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(deletes.s3, expectedDeletes);
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(deletes.r2, expectedDeletes);
+  });
+
+  it('delete objects can fail', async () => {
+    const listReply = JSON.parse(await fs.readFile(path.resolve(__testdir, 'fixtures', 'list-reply.json'), 'utf-8'));
+
+    nock('https://helix-code-bus.s3.fake.amazonaws.com')
+      .get('/?list-type=2&prefix=owner%2Frepo%2Fnew-branch%2F')
+      .reply(200, listReply.response)
+      .post('/?delete=')
+      .reply(404);
+    nock(`https://helix-code-bus.${CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID}.r2.cloudflarestorage.com`)
+      .post('/?delete=')
+      .reply(404);
+
+    const bus = storage.codeBus();
+    await bus.rmdir('/owner/repo/new-branch/');
   });
 
   it('rmdir works for empty dir', async () => {