The heavily-pregnant wife of a Bradford charity worker under arrest in Israel today told of her desperate hopes for his release.

Humanitarian aid worker Ayaz Ali, 36, is being held in a high-security prison after he was arrested at a checkpoint near the West Bank town of Ramallah on what Israeli police call a "security-related matter".

But despite being held for nearly two weeks, the Israeli authorities have refused to tell British diplomats the specific reasons for his arrest or whether he will be charged.

Mrs Ali said: "I am feeling very anxious now and I hope everything gets resolved soon.

"He was due to be back in a couple of weeks, in time for the birth of our first child. This is a very special time for us as a family. I am very worried and I really miss him."

Mr Ali, who grew up in Shipley and went to school in Bradford, was arrested on Tuesday, May 9, when he was stopped at a checkpoint near Modain to the west of Ramallah while travelling to meet colleagues at British-based charity Islamic Relief's West Bank office.

Mrs Ali said: "I was surprised to hear he'd been arrested. I know there's no way he could have done anything wrong so I assumed there had been a misunderstanding and they would just let him go."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office, which is in discussions with the Israeli authorities, said: "No charges have yet been laid. We are pressing the Israeli authorities to release him or clarify why he was arrested."

Karen Kaufman, spokesman for the British Embassy in Israel, said diplomats have had access to him in custody and had attended remand hearings.

A spokesman for the charity Islamic Relief said: "We are extremely concerned about his welfare.

"He is only involved in charitable work and in no way is he or Islamic Relief linked to any criminal or suspect activity."

The charity is also worried that Mr Ali is now being held under West Bank law despite being arrested under Israeli law.

The Islamic Relief spokesman said: "The Israeli authorities have said they have a secret file on Ayaz but as yet we have no idea as to what that contains.

"He could have been under surveillance for a while, we just don't know.

"He has never been in trouble and is a fun-loving character, a family man, who loves to play football and cricket."

Mrs Ali said she last spoke to her husband, who she married in September last year, on Monday, May 8.

"Everything was fine then," she said.

"He is a big football fan and we spoke about the World Cup. He said he wanted to buy a widescreen television to watch it on and an England shirt to wear. If he misses it he is going to be gutted."

Mr Ali, who speaks Arabic, had been working in Israel since last December as a programme manager and it is understood he had worked in the country previously.

"We had no reason to suspect he would be in any danger nothing like this has happened before," said the Islamic Relief spokesman.

"He speaks the language and had travelled to the area previously."

The charity has another project manager in the area at the moment but confirmed that if problems persisted they would remove their workers from the area.

"The people who will suffer if the workers are removed are the Palestinians," said the spokesman.

Mr Ali, whose family still live in Shipley, has worked for the charity for five years. As programme manager he was responsible for managing the charity's educational enhancement centres in refugee camps of Jabalia and Maghazi where children have access to computers, books and toys.

The centres provide extra classes for disadvantaged children.

Mr Ali's wife who is due to give birth to their first child next month stayed with Mr Ali in Israel but returned home recently to prepare for the birth.

"Ayaz was due to return to the UK in June for his paternity leave," said the Islamic Relief spokesman.

Mr Ali, who is a qualified accountant, used to work as an auditor for the charity.

He had been living in Birmingham for the past few years while working at the charity's headquarters.

Mrs Ali said: "Ayaz has a really strong humanitarian spirit. He was glad to be out there to help children have a better future. This job was a great opportunity for him.

"He really believes in the charitable work Islamic Relief is doing around the world and he was always proud to be a part of it."