diff --git a/lib/bb/fetch2/gcp.py b/lib/bb/fetch2/gcp.py
index eb3e0c6a6..9ac2f752f 100644
--- a/lib/bb/fetch2/gcp.py
+++ b/lib/bb/fetch2/gcp.py
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@ Additionally, gsutil must also be installed.
 
 import os
 import bb
+from google.api_core.exceptions import NotFound
 import urllib.parse, urllib.error
 from bb.fetch2 import FetchMethod
 from bb.fetch2 import FetchError
 from bb.fetch2 import logger
-from bb.fetch2 import runfetchcmd
 
 class GCP(FetchMethod):
     """
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ class GCP(FetchMethod):
             ud.basename = os.path.basename(ud.path)
 
         ud.localfile = d.expand(urllib.parse.unquote(ud.basename))
-        ud.basecmd = "gsutil stat"
 
     def get_gcp_client(self):
         from google.cloud import storage
@@ -63,13 +62,15 @@ class GCP(FetchMethod):
         if self.gcp_client is None:
             self.get_gcp_client()
 
-        bb.fetch2.check_network_access(d, ud.basecmd, f"gs://{ud.host}{ud.path}")
-        runfetchcmd("%s %s" % (ud.basecmd, f"gs://{ud.host}{ud.path}"), d)
+        bb.fetch2.check_network_access(d, "blob.download_to_filename", f"gs://{ud.host}{ud.path}")
 
         # Path sometimes has leading slash, so strip it
         path = ud.path.lstrip("/")
         blob = self.gcp_client.bucket(ud.host).blob(path)
-        blob.download_to_filename(ud.localpath)
+        try:
+            blob.download_to_filename(ud.localpath)
+        except NotFound:
+            raise FetchError("The GCP API threw a NotFound exception")
 
         # Additional sanity checks copied from the wget class (although there
         # are no known issues which mean these are required, treat the GCP API
@@ -91,8 +92,7 @@ class GCP(FetchMethod):
         if self.gcp_client is None:
             self.get_gcp_client()
 
-        bb.fetch2.check_network_access(d, ud.basecmd, f"gs://{ud.host}{ud.path}")
-        runfetchcmd("%s %s" % (ud.basecmd, f"gs://{ud.host}{ud.path}"), d)
+        bb.fetch2.check_network_access(d, "gcp_client.bucket(ud.host).blob(path).exists()", f"gs://{ud.host}{ud.path}")
 
         # Path sometimes has leading slash, so strip it
         path = ud.path.lstrip("/")