diff --git a/operator/pkg/s3.go b/operator/pkg/s3.go
index 317146008..300670be6 100644
--- a/operator/pkg/s3.go
+++ b/operator/pkg/s3.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ const (
 
 // getBatchFromDataServiceWithMultipleURLs tries multiple comma-separated URLs until first successful response
 func (o *Operator) getBatchFromDataServiceWithMultipleURLs(ctx context.Context, batchURLs string, expectedMerkleRoot [32]byte, maxRetries int, retryDelay time.Duration) ([]VerificationData, error) {
-    // Parse comma-separated URLs and limit to max 5
+	// Parse comma-separated URLs and limit them to MaxBatchURLs
 	urls := parseBatchURLs(batchURLs)
 	o.Logger.Infof("Getting batch from data service with %d URLs: %v", len(urls), urls)
 
@@ -42,16 +42,16 @@ func (o *Operator) getBatchFromDataServiceWithMultipleURLs(ctx context.Context,
 	return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get batch from all URLs, errors: %s", strings.Join(errors, "; "))
 }
 
-// parseBatchURLs parses comma-separated URLs and limits to max 5
+// parseBatchURLs parses comma-separated URLs and limits them to MaxBatchURLs
 func parseBatchURLs(batchURLs string) []string {
 	urls := make([]string, 0)
 	for _, url := range strings.Split(batchURLs, ",") {
+		if len(urls) >= MaxBatchURLs {
+			break
+		}
 		trimmedURL := strings.TrimSpace(url)
 		if trimmedURL != "" {
 			urls = append(urls, trimmedURL)
-			if len(urls) > MaxBatchURLs {
-				break
-			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -72,6 +72,12 @@ func (o *Operator) getBatchFromDataService(ctx context.Context, batchURL string,
 		Transport: transport,
 	}
 
+	// A non-positive retry count would skip the loop entirely and leave resp nil,
+	// which would then be dereferenced below. Always make at least one attempt.
+	if maxRetries < 1 {
+		maxRetries = 1
+	}
+
 	for attempt := 0; attempt < maxRetries; attempt++ {
 		if attempt > 0 {
 			o.Logger.Infof("Waiting for %s before retrying data fetch (attempt %d of %d)", retryDelay, attempt+1, maxRetries)
@@ -122,16 +128,26 @@ func (o *Operator) getBatchFromDataService(ctx context.Context, batchURL string,
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting batch from data service: %s", resp.Status)
 	}
 
+	maxBatchSize := o.Config.Operator.MaxBatchSize
+
 	contentLength := resp.ContentLength
-	if contentLength > o.Config.Operator.MaxBatchSize {
+	if contentLength > maxBatchSize {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("proof size %d exceeds max batch size %d",
-			contentLength, o.Config.Operator.MaxBatchSize)
+			contentLength, maxBatchSize)
+	}
+
+	// resp.ContentLength is -1 when the server does not announce a length, which is
+	// the case for chunked transfer encoding. Fall back to the configured maximum so
+	// those responses are still readable while remaining bounded.
+	readLimit := maxBatchSize
+	if contentLength >= 0 {
+		readLimit = contentLength
 	}
 
 	// Use io.LimitReader to limit the size of the response body
 	// This is to prevent the operator from downloading a larger than expected file
-	// + 1 is added to the contentLength to check if the response body is larger than expected
-	reader := io.LimitedReader{R: resp.Body, N: contentLength + 1}
+	// + 1 is added to the limit to check if the response body is larger than expected
+	reader := io.LimitedReader{R: resp.Body, N: readLimit + 1}
 	batchBytes, err := io.ReadAll(&reader)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -139,7 +155,7 @@ func (o *Operator) getBatchFromDataService(ctx context.Context, batchURL string,
 
 	// Check if the response body is larger than expected
 	if reader.N <= 0 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("batch size exceeds max batch size %d", o.Config.Operator.MaxBatchSize)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("batch size exceeds max batch size %d", maxBatchSize)
 	}
 
 	// Checks if downloaded merkle root is the same as the expected one
diff --git a/operator/pkg/s3_test.go b/operator/pkg/s3_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..723cd8fbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/operator/pkg/s3_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+package operator
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestParseBatchURLs(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name  string
+		input string
+		want  []string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:  "empty string yields no URLs",
+			input: "",
+			want:  []string{},
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "single URL",
+			input: "https://a.example/batch",
+			want:  []string{"https://a.example/batch"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "surrounding whitespace is trimmed and blanks skipped",
+			input: " https://a.example/batch ,, https://b.example/batch ",
+			want:  []string{"https://a.example/batch", "https://b.example/batch"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "exactly MaxBatchURLs are kept",
+			input: "u1,u2,u3,u4,u5",
+			want:  []string{"u1", "u2", "u3", "u4", "u5"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "more than MaxBatchURLs are truncated to the limit",
+			input: "u1,u2,u3,u4,u5,u6,u7",
+			want:  []string{"u1", "u2", "u3", "u4", "u5"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := parseBatchURLs(tt.input)
+			if len(got) > MaxBatchURLs {
+				t.Fatalf("parseBatchURLs returned %d URLs, which exceeds MaxBatchURLs (%d)", len(got), MaxBatchURLs)
+			}
+			if len(got) != len(tt.want) {
+				t.Fatalf("parseBatchURLs(%q) = %v, want %v", tt.input, got, tt.want)
+			}
+			for i := range tt.want {
+				if got[i] != tt.want[i] {
+					t.Errorf("parseBatchURLs(%q)[%d] = %q, want %q", tt.input, i, got[i], tt.want[i])
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}