Israeli military lawyers have agreed to change the rules to allow soldiers to have a non-religious funeral or for ceremonies to be led by non-Orthodox clergy.

The decision comes after an appeal to the High Court of Justice by religious freedom organisation, Hiddush for Freedom of Religion and Equality.

The group filed a petition in 2017 asking it to force the IDF to revise its regulations regarding burials so that Reform and Conservative rabbis could perform the ceremonies, as well allowing secular families hold non-religious funerals.

“The regulations currently stipulate that… the Military Rabbinate may reject them for reasons relating to the procedures of religious ceremony or due to desecration of the cemetery,” Hiddush said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces agreed to change the rules on Thursday.

According to Hiddush, the IDF still has the power to deny requests for different burials in “extraordinary circumstances”, but does not expect them to do this often.

The organisation said it would expect the IDF not to “object to a female Reform rabbi conducting the religious component of a military burial ceremony at the family’s request, and also that [the IDF attorney] could not think of a concrete example in which the family’s request for a secular or non-Orthodox ceremony would not be honoured.”