Twenty photographs of the week

The week around the world in 20 pictures

The New Orleans truck attack, hunger in Khan Younis, the plane crash in Seoul and new year’s celebrations: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

• Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing

Mamoudzou, Mayotte

Two boys walk past destroyed houses in the district of Cavani, which was damaged by Cyclone Chido. The cyclone devastated the French overseas département of Mayotte, leaving an estimated 100,000 people without shelter or water and hundreds dead

Photograph: Julien de Rosa/AFP/Getty Images

Deir al-Balah, Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian child walks next to his family tent on a windy day in Deir al-Balah. According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced

Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

Khan Younis, Gaza

Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis in Khan Younis. Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on New Year’s Day, mostly women and children, officials said, as the nearly 15-month war ground on into the new year

Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters

Qamishli, Syria

A girl holds a portrait of one of two Kurdish Syrian Democratic forces fighters killed days earlier in a battle with Turkish-backed Syrian forces in the northern city of Manbij

Photograph: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images

Homs, Syria

Women talk on a street surrounded by buildings that were destroyed during the civil war in the district of Khalidiya

Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP

New Orleans, Louisiana, US

Members of the FBI walk around Bourbon Street during the investigation of a truck that fatally crashed into pedestrians on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The FBI said that it believed the suspect acted alone in an ‘act of terrorism’ in the attack on New Year’s Day that killed 14 and injured dozens more

Photograph: Matthew Hinton/AP

Houston, Texas, US

The FBI and Harris County law enforcement officials surround a residence in north Houston as part of the investigation into the New Orleans truck attack

Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

Nairobi, Kenya

Mounted anti-riot police officers try to disperse activists during a protest against the rise in alleged abductions of government critics

Photograph: Daniel Irungu/EPA

Guayaquil, Ecuador

Relatives mourn after four bodies found last week were confirmed as four boys missing since early December. Ecuador’s attorney general’s office confirmed that the incinerated bodies found on Christmas Eve belonged to the four children, in a case posing a severe challenge to President Daniel Noboa’s ‘war on drugs’.

Photograph: Santiago Arcos/Reuters

Muan, South Korea

Firefighters and rescue team members work near the wreckage of a passenger plane at Muan international airport. South Korea has launched an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operations, and a separate check of all Boeing 737-800s, after 179 people died in the Jeju Air crash.

Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP

Deir Atiyah, Syria

The remains of a destroyed monument to Syria’s former president Hafez al-Assad – father of the ousted president Bashar al-Assad – who died in 2000

Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images

Los Angeles, California, US

A man walks along a pier as fog shrouds Venice Beach

Photograph: Daniel Cole/Reuters

Bnei Brak, Israel

A Jewish seminary student walks around as hanukkiahs, candlesticks with nine branches that are lit to mark Hanukkah, are lit during the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights

Photograph: Nir Elias/Reuters

Jerusalem

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish girl looks at her family’s candles, lit to mark Hanukkah

Photograph: Maya Alleruzzo/AP

Oberstdorf, Germany

Austria’s Markus Mueller soars through the air during his qualification jump at the first stage of the 73rd Four Hills ski jumping tournament

Photograph: Matthias Schräder/AP

Berlin, Germany

A giraffe grazes during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at Berlin zoo

Photograph: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Calabar, Nigeria

Participants dance as they parade during Calabar carnival celebrated every December to mark Christmas

Photograph: Olympia de Maismont/AFP/Getty Images

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A couple kisses as fireworks light up the sky over Copacabana Beach during New Year’s celebrations

Photograph: Bruna Prado/AP

Damascus, Syria

Syrians celebrate the new year after the ousting of the Assad regime

Photograph: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP

Gaza

Children play with fireworks at the Bureij camp for displaced Palestinians

Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images