diff --git a/git-add--interactive.perl b/git-add--interactive.perl
index 75b71967a7..7493e68b84 100755
--- a/git-add--interactive.perl
+++ b/git-add--interactive.perl
@@ -957,6 +957,28 @@ sub coalesce_overlapping_hunks {
 	return @out;
 }
 
+sub reassemble_patch {
+	my $head = shift;
+	my @patch;
+
+	# Include everything in the header except the beginning of the diff.
+	push @patch, (grep { !/^[-+]{3}/ } @$head);
+
+	# Then include any headers from the hunk lines, which must
+	# come before any actual hunk.
+	while (@_ && $_[0] !~ /^@/) {
+		push @patch, shift;
+	}
+
+	# Then begin the diff.
+	push @patch, grep { /^[-+]{3}/ } @$head;
+
+	# And then the actual hunks.
+	push @patch, @_;
+
+	return @patch;
+}
+
 sub color_diff {
 	return map {
 		colored((/^@/  ? $fraginfo_color :
@@ -1454,7 +1476,7 @@ sub patch_update_file {
 
 	if (@result) {
 		my $fh;
-		my @patch = (@{$head->{TEXT}}, @result);
+		my @patch = reassemble_patch($head->{TEXT}, @result);
 		my $apply_routine = $patch_mode_flavour{APPLY};
 		&$apply_routine(@patch);
 		refresh();
diff --git a/t/t2016-checkout-patch.sh b/t/t2016-checkout-patch.sh
index 4d1c2e9e09..2144184d79 100755
--- a/t/t2016-checkout-patch.sh
+++ b/t/t2016-checkout-patch.sh
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ test_expect_success 'git checkout -p HEAD^' '
 	verify_state dir/foo parent parent
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'git checkout -p handles deletion' '
+	set_state dir/foo work index &&
+	rm dir/foo &&
+	(echo n; echo y) | git checkout -p &&
+	verify_saved_state bar &&
+	verify_state dir/foo index index
+'
+
 # The idea in the rest is that bar sorts first, so we always say 'y'
 # first and if the path limiter fails it'll apply to bar instead of
 # dir/foo.  There's always an extra 'n' to reject edits to dir/foo in