The White House is ready to send humanitarian aid to Cuba as it recovers from Hurricane Melissa, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media Thursday, a commitment that comes despite the administration’s hardened stance against Havana and its wholesale cuts to foreign aid.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department had issued a formal Declaration of Humanitarian Assistance for Cuba, where U.S. government aid is rare.

Before the storm barreled north over Cuba, at least seven people died across the Caribbean as the storm approached Jamaica. See the storm's impact on Cuba.

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly called for an end to a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba despite lobbying by Washington that included sharing an accusation that up to 5,000 Cubans are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.

From Haiti to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Cuba, the devastation from Hurricane Melissa is massive.

Melissa is now a Category 1 moving through the Bahamas after the storm made a historic landfall in Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history.

Now, as a weakened category 2 storm, there have been some impacts felt in the Bahamas, with Melissa tracking toward Bermuda on Thursday. Beyond that, as can be fairly typical, Melissa will weaken so that it will no longer be a hurricane or tropical storm as it moves into the North Atlantic.