diff --git a/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/scripts/extract-issue-keys.sh b/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/scripts/extract-issue-keys.sh
index 8c8c33b..cb09213 100755
--- a/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/scripts/extract-issue-keys.sh
+++ b/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/scripts/extract-issue-keys.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ if [[ -n "$MERGED_BRANCHES" ]]; then
   IFS=',' read -ra BRANCHES <<< "$MERGED_BRANCHES"
   for branch in "${BRANCHES[@]}"; do
     # Trim leading/trailing whitespace from branch name
-    branch=$(echo "$branch" | xargs)
+    branch="${branch#"${branch%%[![:space:]]*}"}"
+    branch="${branch%"${branch##*[![:space:]]}"}"
     while IFS= read -r key; do
         JIRA_KEYS+=("$key")
     done < <(echo "$branch" | grep -oE '[A-Z0-9]+-[0-9]+')
diff --git a/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/test/test_extract-issue-keys.bats b/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/test/test_extract-issue-keys.bats
index 876b4d8..8f3b6ed 100644
--- a/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/test/test_extract-issue-keys.bats
+++ b/.github/actions/jira-transition-tickets/test/test_extract-issue-keys.bats
@@ -183,3 +183,18 @@ teardown() {
   [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
   [ "$(grep '^issue_keys=' "$GITHUB_OUTPUT" | cut -d= -f2)" = "PROJ25-123,PROJ25-456" ]
 }
+
+@test "extract-issue-keys: handles single quotes" {
+  run "$BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/../scripts/extract-issue-keys.sh" "Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/develop, feature/PROJ-1011-eaa-login, futuredapp/feature/PROJ-1009-eaa-intro"
+
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$(grep '^issue_keys=' "$GITHUB_OUTPUT" | cut -d= -f2)" = "PROJ-1009,PROJ-1011" ]
+}
+
+@test "extract-issue-keys: handles double quotes" {
+  run "$BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/../scripts/extract-issue-keys.sh" "Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/develop', feature/PROJ-1011-eaa-login, futuredapp/feature/PROJ-1009-eaa-intro"
+
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$(grep '^issue_keys=' "$GITHUB_OUTPUT" | cut -d= -f2)" = "PROJ-1009,PROJ-1011" ]
+}
+