diff --git a/.changeset/healthy-bees-shout.md b/.changeset/healthy-bees-shout.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9ba24588aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/healthy-bees-shout.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@near-js/providers": patch
+---
+
+retry RPC request on 408 HTTP error
diff --git a/packages/providers/src/fetch_json.ts b/packages/providers/src/fetch_json.ts
index bef1a029dc..57ee7a9766 100644
--- a/packages/providers/src/fetch_json.ts
+++ b/packages/providers/src/fetch_json.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ export async function fetchJson(connectionInfoOrUrl: string | ConnectionInfo, js
                 if (response.status === 503) {
                     logWarning(`Retrying HTTP request for ${connectionInfo.url} as it's not available now`);
                     return null;
+                } else if (response.status === 408) {
+                    logWarning(`Retrying HTTP request for ${connectionInfo.url} as the previous connection was unused for some time`);
+                    return null;
                 }
                 throw createError(response.status, await response.text());
             }