diff --git a/arviz/data/inference_data.py b/arviz/data/inference_data.py
index 9b6d11c3dc..ce8a8a28eb 100644
--- a/arviz/data/inference_data.py
+++ b/arviz/data/inference_data.py
@@ -236,6 +236,10 @@ def __delattr__(self, group: str) -> None:
             self._groups_warmup.remove(group)
         object.__delattr__(self, group)
 
+    def __delitem__(self, key: str) -> None:
+        """Delete an item from the InferenceData object using del idata[key]."""
+        self.__delattr__(key)
+
     @property
     def _groups_all(self) -> List[str]:
         return self._groups + self._groups_warmup
diff --git a/arviz/tests/base_tests/test_data.py b/arviz/tests/base_tests/test_data.py
index ae8c3e4cad..2f1179a476 100644
--- a/arviz/tests/base_tests/test_data.py
+++ b/arviz/tests/base_tests/test_data.py
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ def test_sel_chain_prior(self):
         with pytest.raises(KeyError):
             idata.sel(inplace=False, chain_prior=True, chain=[0, 1, 3])
 
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize("use", ("del", "delattr"))
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("use", ("del", "delattr", "delitem"))
     def test_del(self, use):
         # create inference data object
         data = np.random.normal(size=(4, 500, 8))
@@ -523,6 +523,8 @@ def test_del(self, use):
         # Use del method
         if use == "del":
             del idata.sample_stats
+        elif use == "delitem":
+            del idata["sample_stats"]
         else:
             delattr(idata, "sample_stats")