diff --git a/lib/rucio/rse/protocols/gfal.py b/lib/rucio/rse/protocols/gfal.py
index bd0cf62eb0..e6f63d7c82 100644
--- a/lib/rucio/rse/protocols/gfal.py
+++ b/lib/rucio/rse/protocols/gfal.py
@@ -489,7 +489,10 @@ def __gfal2_rm(self, paths):
 
         try:
             for path in paths:
-                ret = ctx.unlink(str(path))
+                # GFAL does a PROPFIND request before DELETE when the scheme is
+                # davs://, which is wasteful.
+                path = re.sub('^davs://', 'https://', str(path))
+                ret = ctx.unlink(path)
                 if ret:
                     return ret
             return ret