missing photos - not deleted, not uploaded, just GONE.

hi. my phone has moved 12,000 photos into deleted items before. i have plenty of space both in paid icloud account and on my device.

this time i am travelling in south america when the photos were deleted. i selected “recover all” as per usual but with patchy and slow internet... the photos did not recover, and now they are also not in deleted items.

they’re just gone.

now even the photos i took yesterday disappeared overnight. not hidden, not in deleted items... just gone. i think they disappeared at the same time as the icloud backup.

is there any way to get my photos back? this is just... devastating. christmas, my neice, three holidays, my dog as a puppy... gone :(