diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 397e38b41c..5df28e49c5 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ static enum git_colorbool diff_use_color_default = GIT_COLOR_UNKNOWN;
 static int diff_color_moved_default;
 static int diff_color_moved_ws_default;
 static int diff_context_default = 3;
-static int diff_interhunk_context_default;
+static unsigned int diff_interhunk_context_default;
 static char *diff_word_regex_cfg;
 static struct external_diff external_diff_cfg;
 static char *diff_order_file_cfg;
@@ -388,10 +388,10 @@ int git_diff_ui_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 		return 0;
 	}
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.interhunkcontext")) {
-		diff_interhunk_context_default = git_config_int(var, value,
-								ctx->kvi);
-		if (diff_interhunk_context_default < 0)
+		int val = git_config_int(var, value, ctx->kvi);
+		if (val < 0)
 			return -1;
+		diff_interhunk_context_default = val;
 		return 0;
 	}
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.renames")) {
@@ -6111,9 +6111,8 @@ struct option *add_diff_options(const struct option *opts,
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "default-prefix", options, NULL,
 			       N_("use default prefixes a/ and b/"),
 			       PARSE_OPT_NONEG | PARSE_OPT_NOARG, diff_opt_default_prefix),
-		OPT_INTEGER_F(0, "inter-hunk-context", &options->interhunkcontext,
-			      N_("show context between diff hunks up to the specified number of lines"),
-			      PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
+		OPT_UNSIGNED(0, "inter-hunk-context", &options->interhunkcontext,
+			     N_("show context between diff hunks up to the specified number of lines")),
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "output-indicator-new",
 			       &options->output_indicators[OUTPUT_INDICATOR_NEW],
 			       N_("<char>"),
diff --git a/diff.h b/diff.h
index 7eb84aadf4..033d633db4 100644
--- a/diff.h
+++ b/diff.h
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ struct diff_options {
 	/* Number of context lines to generate in patch output. */
 	int context;
 
-	int interhunkcontext;
+	unsigned int interhunkcontext;
 
 	/* Affects the way detection logic for complete rewrites, renames and
 	 * copies.
diff --git a/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh b/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh
index bada0cbd32..bec1676f8d 100755
--- a/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh
+++ b/t/t4032-diff-inter-hunk-context.sh
@@ -114,4 +114,10 @@ test_expect_success 'diff.interHunkContext invalid' '
 	test_must_fail git diff
 '
 
+test_expect_success '--inter-hunk-context rejects negative value' '
+	test_unconfig diff.interHunkContext &&
+	test_must_fail git diff --inter-hunk-context=-1 2>err &&
+	test_grep "expects a non-negative integer" err
+'
+
 test_done