diff --git a/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/elasticsearch/jest/JestElasticsearchClient.java b/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/elasticsearch/jest/JestElasticsearchClient.java
index aface56d2..f71498a3a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/elasticsearch/jest/JestElasticsearchClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/confluent/connect/elasticsearch/jest/JestElasticsearchClient.java
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 public class JestElasticsearchClient implements ElasticsearchClient {
 
@@ -89,6 +90,8 @@ public JestElasticsearchClient(String address) {
     try {
       JestClientFactory factory = new JestClientFactory();
       factory.setHttpClientConfig(new HttpClientConfig.Builder(address)
+          .readTimeout(60000) // explicitly setting read timeout of 60s
+          .maxConnectionIdleTime(30000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS) // explicitly setting idle ttl of 30s
           .multiThreaded(true)
           .build()
       );
@@ -301,6 +304,15 @@ public BulkResponse executeBulk(BulkRequest bulk) throws IOException {
         } else if ("mapper_parse_exception".equals(errorType)) {
           retriable = false;
           errors.add(item.error);
+        } else if ("delete_failed_engine_exception".equals(errorType)) {
+          // swallow failed delete operations, assumed to be delete on non-existent ID
+          LOG.info(
+              "Swallowing error type {} for document ID {} and index {}",
+                  errorType,
+                  item.id,
+                  item.index
+          );
+          continue;
         } else {
           errors.add(item.error);
         }