David Weidenbaum, of Prestwich, told cousin Karnit Goldwasser - whose husband's body was returned to Israel on Wednesday - that she was a "hero not just to me and my family but to everyone who has had the pleasure to know you and listen to you".

David sent Karnit an emotional email on Wednesday, hours after Goldwasser and fellow soldier Eldad Regev were returned to their homeland by Hezbollah in a swap for Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar and other prisoners.

He wrote: "The whole of Israel and the other families owe you a great debt, you have conducted yourself with great pride and have shown great dignity."

David's father, Peter, and Karnit's father, Omri, are first cousins.

The Weidenbaums last saw Karnit in May when the family went to Israel to prepare for son Nathan's barmitzvah.

David's daughter Amy told the Jewish Telegraph that her family was heartbroken when they found out the tragic news.

The 22-year-old said: "I have never experienced what I felt on Wednesday.

"I had left my computer on the previous night, set to an Israeli news website and the first thing I saw on Wednesday morning on screen was two black coffins - then I knew; it was just awful."

Goldwasser and Regev were kidnapped by Hezbollah terrorists in July, 2006.

Fellow soldier Gilad Shalit was snatched the previous month on the Gaza border.

And Amy believes without Karnit's campaigning, Israel would not have got the bodies back.

She said: "I am biased, because she is my cousin, but at least now she has some closure.

"Without her campaigning, I really don't think the soldiers would have had all the publicity and I don't think the bodies would have been returned."

Amy set up a group on social networking website Facebook dedicated to the missing soldiers - it now has more than 12,000 members.

Last year, Amy and sister Hannah arranged for their father to use his business contacts to mass produce 200,000 flags with the soldiers' images.