diff --git a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/MergeWithLowDiskSpaceIT.java b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/MergeWithLowDiskSpaceIT.java
index 1d707e2775b6e..aab77f64f9fb7 100644
--- a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/MergeWithLowDiskSpaceIT.java
+++ b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/MergeWithLowDiskSpaceIT.java
@@ -9,9 +9,12 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.index.engine;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionFuture;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.node.stats.NodeStats;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.node.stats.NodesStatsResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.segments.ShardSegments;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.stats.IndicesStatsResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.broadcast.BroadcastResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.DiskUsageIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.allocation.DiskThresholdSettings;
@@ -23,12 +26,14 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.stream.IntStream;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertNoFailures;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThan;
 
 @ESIntegTestCase.ClusterScope(scope = ESIntegTestCase.Scope.TEST, numDataNodes = 0)
@@ -40,7 +45,7 @@ public static void setAvailableDiskSpaceBufferLimit() {
         // this has to be big in order to potentially accommodate the disk space for a few 100s of docs and a few merges,
         // because of the latency to process used disk space updates, and also because we cannot reliably separate indexing from merging
         // operations at this high abstraction level (merging is triggered more or less automatically in the background)
-        MERGE_DISK_HIGH_WATERMARK_BYTES = randomLongBetween(1_000_000L, 2_000_000L);
+        MERGE_DISK_HIGH_WATERMARK_BYTES = randomLongBetween(10_000_000L, 20_000_000L);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -152,6 +157,84 @@ public void testShardCloseWhenDiskSpaceInsufficient() throws Exception {
         });
     }
 
+    public void testForceMergeIsBlockedThenUnblocked() throws Exception {
+        String node = internalCluster().startNode();
+        ensureStableCluster(1);
+        setTotalSpace(node, Long.MAX_VALUE);
+        ThreadPoolMergeExecutorService threadPoolMergeExecutorService = internalCluster().getInstance(IndicesService.class, node)
+            .getThreadPoolMergeExecutorService();
+        // create some index
+        final String indexName = randomAlphaOfLength(10).toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
+        createIndex(
+            indexName,
+            Settings.builder().put(IndexMetadata.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 0).put(IndexMetadata.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 1).build()
+        );
+        // get current disk space usage (for all indices on the node)
+        IndicesStatsResponse stats = indicesAdmin().prepareStats().clear().setStore(true).get();
+        long usedDiskSpaceAfterIndexing = stats.getTotal().getStore().sizeInBytes();
+        // restrict the total disk space such that the next merge does not have sufficient disk space
+        long insufficientTotalDiskSpace = usedDiskSpaceAfterIndexing + MERGE_DISK_HIGH_WATERMARK_BYTES - randomLongBetween(1L, 10L);
+        setTotalSpace(node, insufficientTotalDiskSpace);
+        // node stats' FS stats should report that there is insufficient disk space available
+        assertBusy(() -> {
+            NodesStatsResponse nodesStatsResponse = client().admin().cluster().prepareNodesStats().setFs(true).get();
+            assertThat(nodesStatsResponse.getNodes().size(), equalTo(1));
+            NodeStats nodeStats = nodesStatsResponse.getNodes().get(0);
+            assertThat(nodeStats.getFs().getTotal().getTotal().getBytes(), equalTo(insufficientTotalDiskSpace));
+            assertThat(nodeStats.getFs().getTotal().getAvailable().getBytes(), lessThan(MERGE_DISK_HIGH_WATERMARK_BYTES));
+        });
+        int indexingRounds = randomIntBetween(2, 5);
+        while (indexingRounds-- > 0) {
+            indexRandom(
+                true,
+                true,
+                true,
+                false,
+                IntStream.range(1, randomIntBetween(2, 5))
+                    .mapToObj(i -> prepareIndex(indexName).setSource("field", randomAlphaOfLength(50)))
+                    .toList()
+            );
+        }
+        // the max segments argument makes it a blocking call
+        ActionFuture<BroadcastResponse> forceMergeFuture = indicesAdmin().prepareForceMerge(indexName).setMaxNumSegments(1).execute();
+        assertBusy(() -> {
+            // merge executor says merging is blocked due to insufficient disk space while there is a single merge task enqueued
+            assertThat(threadPoolMergeExecutorService.getMergeTasksQueueLength(), equalTo(1));
+            assertTrue(threadPoolMergeExecutorService.isMergingBlockedDueToInsufficientDiskSpace());
+            // indices stats also says that no merge is currently running (blocked merges are NOT considered as "running")
+            IndicesStatsResponse indicesStatsResponse = client().admin().indices().prepareStats(indexName).setMerge(true).get();
+            long currentMergeCount = indicesStatsResponse.getIndices().get(indexName).getPrimaries().merge.getCurrent();
+            assertThat(currentMergeCount, equalTo(0L));
+        });
+        // the force merge call is still blocked
+        assertFalse(forceMergeFuture.isCancelled());
+        assertFalse(forceMergeFuture.isDone());
+        // merge executor still confirms merging is blocked due to insufficient disk space
+        assertTrue(threadPoolMergeExecutorService.isMergingBlockedDueToInsufficientDiskSpace());
+        // make disk space available in order to unblock the merge
+        if (randomBoolean()) {
+            setTotalSpace(node, Long.MAX_VALUE);
+        } else {
+            updateClusterSettings(
+                Settings.builder().put(ThreadPoolMergeExecutorService.INDICES_MERGE_DISK_HIGH_WATERMARK_SETTING.getKey(), "0b")
+            );
+        }
+        // wait for the merge call to return
+        safeGet(forceMergeFuture);
+        IndicesStatsResponse indicesStatsResponse = indicesAdmin().prepareStats(indexName).setMerge(true).get();
+        // assert index stats reports no merging in progress (after force merge returned)
+        long currentMergeCount = indicesStatsResponse.getIndices().get(indexName).getPrimaries().merge.getCurrent();
+        assertThat(currentMergeCount, equalTo(0L));
+        // but some merging took place (there might have been other merges automatically triggered before the force merge call)
+        long totalMergeCount = indicesStatsResponse.getIndices().get(indexName).getPrimaries().merge.getTotal();
+        assertThat(totalMergeCount, greaterThan(0L));
+        // assert there's a single segment after the force merge
+        List<ShardSegments> shardSegments = getShardSegments(indexName);
+        assertThat(shardSegments.size(), equalTo(1));
+        assertThat(shardSegments.get(0).getSegments().size(), equalTo(1));
+        assertAcked(indicesAdmin().prepareDelete(indexName).get());
+    }
+
     public void setTotalSpace(String dataNodeName, long totalSpace) {
         getTestFileStore(dataNodeName).setTotalSpace(totalSpace);
         refreshClusterInfo();