diff --git a/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutable.java b/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutable.java
index beec9af7ad..51f8c01317 100644
--- a/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutable.java
+++ b/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutable.java
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 package io.camunda.connector.inbound;
 
 import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.AmazonSQS;
+import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.model.QueueAttributeName;
+import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.model.QueueDoesNotExistException;
 import io.camunda.connector.api.annotation.InboundConnector;
 import io.camunda.connector.api.inbound.Activity;
 import io.camunda.connector.api.inbound.Health;
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@
 import io.camunda.connector.generator.java.annotation.ElementTemplate.ConnectorElementType;
 import io.camunda.connector.generator.java.annotation.ElementTemplate.PropertyGroup;
 import io.camunda.connector.inbound.model.SqsInboundProperties;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
@@ -63,6 +66,7 @@
           templateNameOverride = "Amazon SQS Boundary Event Connector")
     })
 public class SqsExecutable implements InboundConnectorExecutable {
+
   private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SqsExecutable.class);
   private final AmazonSQSClientSupplier sqsClientSupplier;
   private final ExecutorService executorService;
@@ -100,6 +104,16 @@ public void activate(final InboundConnectorContext context) {
     amazonSQS =
         sqsClientSupplier.sqsClient(
             CredentialsProviderSupport.credentialsProvider(properties), region);
+
+    try {
+      amazonSQS.getQueueAttributes(
+          properties.getQueue().url(),
+          List.of(QueueAttributeName.ApproximateNumberOfMessages.toString()));
+    } catch (QueueDoesNotExistException e) {
+      LOGGER.error("Queue does not exist, failing subscription activation");
+      throw new RuntimeException("Queue does not exist: " + properties.getQueue().url());
+    }
+
     LOGGER.debug("SQS client created successfully");
     if (sqsQueueConsumer == null) {
       sqsQueueConsumer = new SqsQueueConsumer(amazonSQS, properties, context);
diff --git a/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsQueueConsumer.java b/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsQueueConsumer.java
index f7f2aec09b..dc1922a8c2 100644
--- a/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsQueueConsumer.java
+++ b/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/main/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsQueueConsumer.java
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ public void run() {
     do {
       try {
         receiveMessageResult = sqsClient.receiveMessage(receiveMessageRequest);
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        LOGGER.error("Failed to receive messages from SQS queue", e);
+        continue;
+      }
+      try {
         List<Message> messages = receiveMessageResult.getMessages();
         for (Message message : messages) {
           context.log(
diff --git a/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/test/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutableTest.java b/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/test/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutableTest.java
index 7989b4de06..48b0df5b8e 100644
--- a/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/test/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutableTest.java
+++ b/connectors/aws/aws-sqs/src/test/java/io/camunda/connector/inbound/SqsExecutableTest.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 import static java.nio.file.Files.readString;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThrows;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.eq;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.atLeast;
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@
 import com.amazonaws.auth.AWSCredentialsProvider;
 import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.AmazonSQS;
 import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.model.Message;
+import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.model.QueueDoesNotExistException;
 import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.model.ReceiveMessageRequest;
 import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.model.ReceiveMessageResult;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
@@ -110,6 +112,9 @@ public void activateTest(Map<String, Object> properties) throws InterruptedExcep
   @Test
   public void deactivateTest() {
     // Given
+    when(sqsClient.getQueueAttributes(any(), any())).thenReturn(null);
+    when(supplier.sqsClient(any(AWSCredentialsProvider.class), eq(ACTUAL_QUEUE_REGION)))
+        .thenReturn(sqsClient);
     Map<String, Object> properties =
         Map.of(
             "authentication",
@@ -133,6 +138,30 @@ public void deactivateTest() {
     assertThat(executorService.isShutdown()).isTrue();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void nonExistingQueueTest() {
+    // Given
+    when(sqsClient.getQueueAttributes(any(), any())).thenThrow(new QueueDoesNotExistException(""));
+    when(supplier.sqsClient(any(AWSCredentialsProvider.class), eq(ACTUAL_QUEUE_REGION)))
+        .thenReturn(sqsClient);
+    Map<String, Object> properties =
+        Map.of(
+            "authentication",
+            Map.of(
+                "secretKey", ACTUAL_SECRET_KEY,
+                "accessKey", ACTUAL_ACCESS_KEY),
+            "configuration",
+            Map.of("region", "us-east-1"),
+            "queue",
+            Map.of("url", ACTUAL_QUEUE_URL, "pollingWaitTime", "1"));
+    var context = createConnectorContext(properties, createDefinition());
+    consumer = new SqsQueueConsumer(sqsClient, new SqsInboundProperties(), context);
+    consumer.setQueueConsumerActive(true);
+    SqsExecutable sqsExecutable = new SqsExecutable(supplier, executorService, consumer);
+    // When & then
+    assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> sqsExecutable.activate(context));
+  }
+
   private InboundConnectorDefinition createDefinition() {
     var element = new ProcessElement("proc-id", 1, 2, "element-id", "<default>");
     return InboundConnectorDefinitionBuilder.create().elements(element).type("type").build();