[1] Zorea was born in Chişinău, Bessarabia (then part of the Kingdom of Romania, now in Moldova) in 1923, and moved with his parents to Mandatory Palestine in 1925.

After completing his studies at the Hebrew Reali School, he enlisted in the British Army was a teenager at the outbreak of World War II, but in 1942 joined the 20th company of the Buffs, which was recruited from Palestine's Jews, and after September 1944 the Jewish Brigade, a temporary combatant military element of the British military composed of Jews from Palestine led by British-Jewish officers.

During late winter in 1945, the Jewish Brigade took part in combat against the German Army at the Senio River Valley (near Bologna, Italy).

Then a second lieutenant, Zorea was awarded the British Military Cross for leading his men through intense fire, allowing spotters to pinpoint German positions.

Regarding emigration to Palestine, Zorea remarked: We had a net over the whole of Europe, which was then about five million people of all nations and denominations who were moving from place to place, and we directed our streams toward Palestine.To facilitate execution of Nazis, Jewish Brigade members would traverse post-war Europe in bands of three and four.

[3] At the time, Zorea was considered a candidate for eventual appointment as Chief of General Staff, the highest position in the IDF.

In 1959, after the Night of the Ducks scandal that brought Israel to domestic and foreign crisis, Zorea was removed from his position as director of operations.

Later on, during the 1967 Six-Day War, Zorea led his tank corps into the Sinai Peninsula to capture Sharm el-Sheikh from Egyptian forces.

In the 1980s, Zorea was involved in the investigation of the Kav 300 affair, wherein some Israeli soldiers were suspected of killing two captured Arab terrorists.