He initially delivered Haganah newspapers to its subscribers, hung pro-Haganah posters in the middle of the night and oiled the guns belonging to the settlement.

He fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and participated in Operation Danny in which the Arab occupied towns of Lod and Ramle fell to Jewish forces.

Later, forces under his command took part in the taking of the Sharm el-Sheikh military base, thus clearing the way for Israeli shipping to pass through the Gulf of Aqaba, which had hitherto been blocked by Egyptian cannon.

In 1962, Syrian artillery on the Golan Heights bombarded Israeli civilian targets, including fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.

The Israel Defense Forces felt that retaliation was warranted and chose a Syrian military target near the village of Nuqeib.

Ofer was the sole Israeli fatality in the engagement, which also resulted in the killing of two guerrillas and the capture of six others along with a large weapons cache.