diff --git a/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java b/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java
index 2263d8151218..99a579da9592 100644
--- a/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java
+++ b/nessie/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/NessieTableOperations.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import org.apache.iceberg.Snapshot;
 import org.apache.iceberg.SnapshotRef;
 import org.apache.iceberg.TableMetadata;
+import org.apache.iceberg.TableProperties;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.CommitFailedException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.CommitStateUnknownException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.NoSuchTableException;
@@ -84,6 +85,12 @@ private TableMetadata loadTableMetadata(String metadataLocation, Reference refer
         NessieUtil.tableMetadataFromIcebergTable(io(), table, metadataLocation);
     Map<String, String> newProperties = Maps.newHashMap(deserialized.properties());
     newProperties.put(NESSIE_COMMIT_ID_PROPERTY, reference.getHash());
+    // To prevent accidental deletion of files that are still referenced by other branches/tags,
+    // setting GC_ENABLED to false. So that all Iceberg's gc operations like expire_snapshots,
+    // remove_orphan_files, drop_table with purge will fail with an error.
+    // Nessie CLI will provide a reference aware GC functionality for the expired/unreferenced
+    // files.
+    newProperties.put(TableProperties.GC_ENABLED, "false");
     TableMetadata.Builder builder =
         TableMetadata.buildFrom(deserialized)
             .setPreviousFileLocation(null)
diff --git a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieTable.java b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieTable.java
index 97ded6094ef9..c919431a333b 100644
--- a/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieTable.java
+++ b/nessie/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/nessie/TestNessieTable.java
@@ -40,11 +40,13 @@
 import org.apache.iceberg.Table;
 import org.apache.iceberg.TableMetadataParser;
 import org.apache.iceberg.TableOperations;
+import org.apache.iceberg.TableProperties;
 import org.apache.iceberg.avro.AvroSchemaUtil;
 import org.apache.iceberg.catalog.TableIdentifier;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.AlreadyExistsException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.CommitFailedException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.NotFoundException;
+import org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.ValidationException;
 import org.apache.iceberg.relocated.com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import org.apache.iceberg.types.Types;
 import org.assertj.core.api.Assertions;
@@ -548,6 +550,22 @@ public void testListTables() {
     Assertions.assertThat(catalog.tableExists(TABLE_IDENTIFIER)).isTrue();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testGCEnabled() {
+    Table icebergTable = catalog.loadTable(TABLE_IDENTIFIER);
+
+    Assertions.assertThat(icebergTable.properties().get(TableProperties.GC_ENABLED))
+        .isNotNull()
+        .isEqualTo("false");
+
+    Assertions.assertThatThrownBy(
+            () ->
+                icebergTable.expireSnapshots().expireOlderThan(System.currentTimeMillis()).commit())
+        .isInstanceOf(ValidationException.class)
+        .hasMessage(
+            "Cannot expire snapshots: GC is disabled (deleting files may corrupt other tables)");
+  }
+
   private String getTableBasePath(String tableName) {
     String databasePath = temp.toString() + "/" + DB_NAME;
     return Paths.get(databasePath, tableName).toAbsolutePath().toString();