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. He studied at the Arieli school in Haifa. He joined the Haganah at age 16, and was a member of the Special Night Squads and Notrim. 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). After two difficult months, the brigade emerged from the engagement battered, yet victorious. Then a second lieutenant, Zorea was awarded the British Military Cross for leading his men through intense fire, allowing spotters to pinpoint German positions. Eventually, Zorea attained the rank of Captain before the brigade was dissolved in 1946.