this is bbc news, the headlines: israel tells tens of thousands more palestinians to leave rafah — as it intensifies military operations in southern gaza carrying out fresh strikes. meanwhile the foreign office is investigating a hamas claim that british—israeli hostage, nadav popplewell, has been killed in gaza. relief workers are struggling to deliver aid to those hit hard by devastating flash floods in northern afghanistan. the un says more than 300 people have died and thousands more have been injured after rivers of water and mud swept away houses. it is switzerland! cheering. and after one of the most controversial eurovision song contests — switzerland are crowned this year's winners. voting is under way in catalonia where pro—independence supporters wanting to break away from spain are hoping to maintain their majority in the regional parliament.

now on bbc news, it's the second part of a special the travel show: antarctica: the frozen frontier. welcome to one of the most breathtaking and extraordinary places on earth. i'm in antarctica... ..on a journey across the coldest, the windiest... ..and surely one of the world's most awe—inspiring continents. i'm sharing the experience with 400 passengers on an expedition cruise ship. in the second part of my journey, i'll be meeting the scientists performing vital research to protect this region's vast ecosystem. there's the calf, yeah. nice. we know that the pregnancy rates are high, the population is increasing, and we're also

seeing more calves in the water. woo! i'm taking the chilliest dip of my life... woohoo! ..and camping out on the ice. we're going to be here, like, i tomorrow morning still putting a tent up at this rate. as more and more people embark on these adventures, what can we learn about this, the most pristine place on the planet? we're sailing into an area famous for humpback whale sightings — wilhelmina bay. 0nboard ourship, the fridtjof nansen, there's a complement of independent scientists. they're getting the opportunity to perform genuine research in antarctic waters.

0k, blakey? 0k, green light from down here. today, i'm heading out with arianna torello and blake marin from the university of california, santa cruz. they're on board studying whales — equipped with some unusual kit. blake, what are you guys going to be doing out on the boat today? so we're heading out to collect some data on whales. we've got a drone we're going to be using to measure their body condition. uh-huh. and then we've also got a crossbow up here, which we're going to be using to collect some skin and blubber — some remote biopsy samples from them. we'll catch you out on the water. thank you. we'll see you. we'll see you in a bit. it isn't long before blake's drone spots its first signs of whales spouting air. coming up. 0h, there's a calf. because blake and arianna are going to be using a crossbow and a drone,

we're riding parallel to them on a separate boat. we're going to have to keep a distance of about 100 or so metres when they spot a whale, just to ensure that we don't agitate the animal and they keep it as calm as possible. yeah, i can see one over there. they're going to be really careful not to injure the whales. they don't shoot anywhere near the animal's head, around its face or eyes. how many�*s that? yeah, that's four! there's four whales over there! we're right on top of it. we're right on top of them. it looks like arianna's going to take a shot. 0k, i've got a shot.

i think. nice. that was mom right there. and they're reeling it back in. 0k, skin and blubber. yeah, just holding here. no reaction. yeah, no response. no response. that means there isn't any sign that the whale felt the crossbow�*s bolt. filming from above reveals these whales performing an ingenious feeding strategy — bubble—net feeding. there's bubbles. more bubbles on the other side over there. the whales dive deep, blowing out air. this confuses and traps fish swimming above. the whales then rise from the depths, mouths open, and feast.

those are the bubbles. like, little bubbles coming up. so there could be an animal... there was some on the further side. we'll see. they might�*ve split as well. this is behaviour they've learned from one another. it's exclusive to humpback and bryde�*s whale species. hi, guys! how did it go? hey! hey, marc! all good. what sort of whales did you manage to get samples from there? so that sighting was with two humpback whales. it was actually a mom and a calf. a lot of our tissue samples are actually telling us some information on the pregnancy rates of humpbacks. we know that the pregnancy rates are high, the population is increasing, and we're also seeing more calves in the water. using the crossbow to collect those samples, it looks like it's pretty vicious. does it injure or upset the animals at all? no, absolutely not. so, in terms of injury, you know, we can immediately say no. we've been using this type of sampling method as a lab group for about two decades. but it's been used

scientifically even longer than that. the way we like to describe it is maybe like a flick or more of a shock factor, but frequently we don't see any response at all. how important is it that you get those samples back and into the freezer quite quickly? it's actually pretty important, so we should probably head out now. 0k. we'll see you guys back at ship. we're basicallyjust storing all of the samples right now for analysis later. we can open this up and see. how many samples did you manage to get today? so we got 17 today, which is by far the most we've gotten all season. it was a really good day for us, yeah. so these are blubber samples? yeah, so it'll probably be easier to show you once we start pulling them out of the tips. but it's basically got a little bit of skin and then a little bit of blubber down beneath it. trying not to touch it

too much while i'm doing it. so you don't contaminate the sample? yes. but... there we go. that bit of skin and blubber, you can see it's at a bit of an angle from when it entered the animal. yeah. but about half skin, half blubber there. blake, what do you hope this research will achieve? yeah, so i think it's going to give us a lot of information on how these animals eat, how they are able to reproduce. just really understanding this population of particularly humpback whales in general, and being able to start to look for changes when we consider things like climate change, krill fishing, you know, increasing tourism in antarctica. the ship's next destination is deception island. its blackened and charred landscape shaped by an active volcano. formerly home to whaling,

and later research stations, this island was abandoned after a volcanic eruption in 1969. this feels like the surface of the moon — if the surface of the moon had driving snow. totally different from the glaciers, totally different from the icebergs. ready to go hiking? yeah, let's do it! ok, let's ascend this mountain! really excited for the view up there! it's a great workout for the calves! as well as hiking across this volcanic landscape, i'll be catching up with my fellow passengers, kath and keith, and natasha and lena. how was that? it was tougher than it looked! but it's well worth the view. every level you get up, - the view's changing and you're getting to see the full kind of volcanic crater. - it's really beautiful. all right, well, let's keep... let's keep ourselves warm. let's keep the pace up. let's keep moving.

let's keep going. the snow and ice might not be settling, but pretty harsh weather conditions make progress really difficult. the weather in antarctica is incredibly changeable. you get sleet and snow one minute, sunshine the next. in really, really high winds, i'm not sure whether this is sleet, snow, sleet, snow and ice, sleet, snow and ice with rocks in it. a combination of all of those. i am being absolutely battered by ice. - it is not snow. are you happy here? and we're definitely- going to need a cup of tea at the end of this, aren't we? as some head for higher ground, the weather takes a turn for the worse. we decide to descend. another challenge awaits, though — the island's ice cold waters.

are you all going in? everyone. are you? the enthusiasm of the group has persuaded me that i'm going tojoin them on the polar plunge as well. i'm not entirely confident that i'm going to enjoy it perhaps as much as some of our group here. yeah! that was some weak sauce there. woohoo! i'm not doing it. i'm fartoo sensible. here we go, dad. ready. here we go. father and son terry and luke have no problem taking the plunge, though. go on. we've got to go. once—in—a—lifetime experience. the water temperature is one degree. if we're going to plunge, it's now or never. woo! ah! cheering that isn't long enough! 0k!

you did it! oh, that was just as unpleasant as i thought it was going to be! 0h! wahey! i think we should all give ourselves a big round of applause. cheering go, guys! oh, my god! laughter woo! returning to the ship provides an opportunity to warm up. a daily ritual — making sure that we clean and disinfect our boots when we get onto and off the ship. it's all part of an effort to try and make sure that we keep antarctica as clean as possible and don't introduce bacteria or dirt from somewhere else. the fridtjof nansen�*s operators, hx expeditions, are keen to highlight efforts to protect the local environment and sustainability, bolstered in part by things like the ship's hybrid

electric propulsion system. they claim it uses less fuel. but back on deck, our ship isn't alone in these waters. i've noticed other cruise vessels. here in deception island, in the bay, we can see quite a few other cruise ships, quite large vessels. and when we think about sustainability, climate change, issues around the environment, does it make sense to have so many of us — so many human beings — in this region? are we part of the problem? the antarctic environment is massively important to the whole world. this vast continent covered in ice helps keep the planet cool, reflecting the sun's rays away from the earth's surface. sea ice that forms in winter and then slowly melts helps regulate heat and drive currents that affect the rest of the world.

studying the environment here is vital to get a clear picture of the effect of climate change on the region. to find out more, i caught up with some of the passengers taking part in a citizen science project. we will take some samples, do some measurements. led by one of the ship's science team, nadia. and we try to catch some of the things that are in the water with this net. one of the major areas of study is the bottom of the food chain, something called phytoplankton. the phytoplankton gets eaten by, like, for example, little krill. what eats krill? we all know. penguins. penguins and whales. so that's why we monitor this really small part of the food chain. all right, so what we will do now is putting the plankton net in the water. yeah, you canjust let it go. perfect. now it starts to actually roll out. good. so now it's collecting a surface sample.

0k. this is great. so now we have the whole bottle full of sample. it's time to head back to the ship and examine what we've found. can you see anything in yours? yes. yeah, i've got. little wiggly bits. i can see lots of what look like hairs floating around. yeah, i even see it already on your sample. so these are bigger cells. so probably some plant remainings. and sometimes we even find microplastic in the samples. we don't want to see - microplastic, though, do we? no, we don't want to see it. but we unfortunately find it. that's really scary. it's right down here? exactly. nadia, what can we discover from finding lots of these in a particular area? we want to look how diverse is it here? how many different species of phytoplankton do we have? and with warming waters, we can see that the diversity is decreasing. while studies continue around diversity in the local ecosystem, there are conservation success stories. hey, good morning!

good morning! i'm going to see one of them now. terry and luke join me aboard a rib. the father and son from surrey didn't expect to be making this trip together. and i was supposed to be here with my wife, actually. it was four years in the making. first two years cancelled due to covid. third year, we had our daughter. and now she's one, so you can't bring a one—year—old to antarctica. so dad had to step in for my... number 12 on my back. substitute. laughter and getting to see these animals in their natural habitat, does it give you a different perspective on the natural world? there's nowhere else like this, and i think itjust has to be a priority to try and protect it. we've got something behind us. what can i see? what is it? what's over there? is it a whale? oh, yeah. just there, look. you see this little one that's, like, in a v—shape?

yeah. just there. we're going in. we have to be quiet not to disturb them. going in very, very slowly. this is incredible! there's its tail again! look at that! 0ur small boat encounters 15—metre—long humpback whales feeding on tiny shrimp—like krill that fill these waters. that is beautiful. my word! the penguin. gasping look at that! this really has a feel of once—in—a—lifetime experience about it, to see whales this close, feeding.

just mind—blowing. since an international whaling ban was introduced in the �*80s, humpback whale numbers have slowly increased. scientists estimate they're now at pre—whale—hunting levels. while it's good news for humpbacks, not all species are so lucky. work continues to protect the habitats and welfare of the world's whales. it's absolutely incredible. if i wasn't sitting here _ and witness what just happened, i was watching this on the tv, i'd think, "well, that- "was pretty much planned - and choreographed to happen." whale watching done, i want to find out if our time on this unique continent has had an effect on our tourists. it does make you want to go back and actually pass - the message on more. and there is that thing about behaviour change, which is difficult.

but i think a lot of people who have come here are very aware of all this stuff anyway, but we've got to go back with, like, renewed energy. now, going back to a family and having a child, there's an agenda for me to push and... absolutely. ..to educate. yeah, for the next generation. because if we don't slow down or we don't all collectively make a bigger, better effort, half these species probably won't be here. i've gotjust enough time to grab my gear and head out for my final excursion. tonight, i won't be sleeping in my cabin aboard the ship. instead, i'll be camping here on an ice island in leith cove off the antarctic peninsula. do you see kind of the bluish gap there? welcome to leith cove. this feels like a mini—expedition, seeing everybody traipsing up the hill, carrying all their kit, deploying from our rib.

there's a real spirit of adventure. welcome ashore! i'm extremely excited! have fun. thank you very much. now, please. there won't be any barbecues or songs around the campfire. in order to protect the local environment, we can't bring any food ashore — only water. wonderful location. all we're allowed to leave behind are footprints in the snow. base camp. do you know where you're going, by the way? - no, i'mjust going. you can'tjust pitch up anywhere. - you've got to, like, _ pitch up somewhere sensible. i don't want to fall offl the edge of it at night. who needs sensible? i'm at the ends of the earth! here we go. first order of business — get the tent built. i am not a natural camper. 0k, could you just hold...? without an instruction manual handy.

first part up. we're going to be here, like, i tomorrow morning still putting a tent up at this rate. i'll most likely be sleeping in my thermal undies. i'll keep them on all night. and i'll keep my boots handy, just in case i need to pay a visit to the very, very rudimentary toilet. do you want to dig a hole, and then we pull it...? - we don't need to dig a hole. well, i don't think- we dug deep enough. let me dig in. i know toddlers who are more helpful than you! cracking 0h! wow! the sound of ice carving. right now, you wouldn't know it, but it's 11pm, and we can hear the cracking of the icebergs. it'sjust stunning. is it nice sharing this together? ithink... this is quite silly.

there's no—one else i'd want to share it with. you know, we've travelled lots of places, and the idea that we get to go to the ends of the earth together. and it also really makes you think about what you've been doing with your life, who you've been spending it with. and it's probably good to have someone you like with you. tash, you getting comfortable? yeah, trying. it was a bit of hard work trying to get the tent up, wasn't it? laughter so, guess what? we're going to sleep - on your seventh continent. laughter night—night. night, tash. it's the early hours of the morning. if wejust look outside there... ..it�*s still light. stripping everything away, stripping all the things away that you might normally do when you get outdoors, gives you time to reflect and think. and, you know, pay attention, be in the moment.

soak up everything that's going on around me. glaciers. penguins. icebergs. cool stuff. it's been an amazing journey to the ends of the earth. a frozen continent almost untouched by human hands... ..home to incredible wildlife... ..and breathtaking landscapes. it's a place that isn't just beautiful — it's vital to the survival of all life on earth. and i have to conclude, after spending time so close to the wildlife here, that it's really deepened my sense of how beautiful and how fragile this environment is, and that protecting it and preserving it will

benefit all of us in ways that we can barely imagine. the skies may look a little threatening where you are today, recently it has been about the northern lights the spectacle in the heavens. friday night saturday night, the greatest chance was always the further north you were in the uk. notjust in the uk but many other parts of the globe from scandinavia into iceland and also north america. and indeed, further south across some of the parts. in

terms of the weather, it will produce a spectacle of its own through the course of sunday. we are expecting some big thunderstorms to develop. we will get to that in a second. through the early hours of sunday, clear skies and after a night of the aurora borealis. and lots of warm and sunny weather to start the day but through the afternoon clouds will up across western areas. the middle of the afternoon and towards the end of the day we will see some vicious downpours developing across western areas. it is not one coherent area of rain, they will be showers and individual thunderstorms so some areas will get torrential downpours, thunder

flash flooding and other areas will miss it completely. to the course of the

live from london. this is bbc news israel carries out fresh strikes on parts of gaza — as it tells palestinians to leave the southern city of rafah. meanwhile, the foreign office is investigating a hamas claim — that british—israeli hostage — nadav popplewell — has been killed in gaza. it is switzerland! and: after one of the most controversial eurovision song contests — switzerland are crowned this year's winners. hello i'm catherine byaruhanga. israel has continued its air strikes on several parts of the gaza strip even as it continues issuing controversial evacuation orders to palestinians. the israeli military said its troops had found many tunnels used by hamas

at the rafah crossing into egypt.